'Anything is possible' - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta not ruling out new contract for Alexandre Lacazette
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ByEurosport
Published 21/10/2021 at 13:20 GMT
Alexandre Lacazette is playing in his fifth season at Arsenal having arrived from Lyon in 2017. He is yet to start a Premier League game this campaign and has made just three substitute appearances. However, after his last-gasp goal against Crystal Palace on Monday, Arteta refused to rule out offering him a new contract with his current deal set to expire next summer.
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Mikel Arteta said “anything is possible” when asked if Alexandre Lacazette would sign a new Arsenal contract.
The 30-year-old’s current contract expires at the end of the season and can talk to foreign clubs over a move in January and leave on a free transfer next summer.
Lacazette scored his first Premier League goal of the season with a last-gasp equaliser in the Gunners’ 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Monday.
Arteta has hailed the impact of the Frenchman and is open to the possibility of giving the striker a new contract.
"Anything is possible,” the Spaniard said at his press conference ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Friday evening.
“He is our player, and I treat him like any other player, I'm not going to treat him differently because he has a year left or not a year left and that is what he deserves.
"It's the situation that we have and we have to accept it. I cannot ask anything from the player… and it's not an individual situation because it has a knock-on effect.
"All of this we have had to deal with in the past and still now, we have to see what the best option is for everybody at the end of the season.”
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Arteta says Lacazette remains a “very important player” for Arsenal and that he led by example in the Palace game.
"I had no doubts about that [his motivation],” Arteta said.
“If I did I would probably have decided to do something different in the summer if the motivation was just his financial future.
"It's not the case with Laca and he has shown that since I've been here every single day and he remains a really important player for us.
"I think he was able to transmit that energy [against Crystal Palace] and that was contagious for the rest of the team and for the stadium.
"He created a different atmosphere straight away, with his determination and his quality and he tried to change the result straight away and [had] that belief in himself that he could do it."
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