Lyon have revealed that the club rejected a €35m offer from Arsenal for Alexandre Lacazette, and have insisted that the player is not for sale.
The 25-year-old striker has been linked with a move away from Lyon for over a year, but has so far stayed put at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais.
Arsenal have been interested in the striker in recent months, and according to French daily Le Progres, they recently tabled a bid worth €48m for the France international.
But Lyon have squashed the speculation that they have received such an offer from Arsenal and in a statement revealed that they had already rejected a bid from the Gunners worth €35m earlier in the summer.
And they stressed that Lacazette won’t be leaving the club anytime soon as the player remains an important part of Lyon’s project going forward.
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A statement released by Lyon read: “Olympique Lyonnais categorically deny having received an offer of €48m from Arsenal for the transfer of Alexandre Lacazette as confirmed by Le Progres in its morning edition.
“The club regret once again that Le Progres have not made the effort to contact them before publishing this false information which caused confusion on the day when the group, which is listed on the stock market, publishes its turnover of €218.1m, which is up by 111% in comparison to 2014/15.
“The reality is that Arsenal FC have drawn up an offer of €35m which Olympique Lyonnais have not followed up for one single reason: OL will keep Alexandre Lacazette, who is irreplaceable and one of the main leaders in Bruno Genesio's group.”
Lacazette is reportedly keen to move away from Lyon this summer, but has been so far unwilling to force the club’s hand.
