Wenger identifies Lyon star as number one summer target
Arsene Wenger is targeting Lyon attacking midfielder Nabil Fekir as his top summer transfer target, according to MailOnline.
The 24-year old, who is expected to be among France’s 23-man World Cup squad this summer, will command a significant fee to tempt Lyon into letting him leave.
Wenger is willing to pay around £45million to secure Fekir, who has excelled for Lyon this season in Alexandre Lacazette’s absence.
Fekir scored against Villarreal on Thursday night in Lyon’s 3-1 Europa League win, taking his goal tally this season to 21 in 31 games across all competitions.
Lyon will be reluctant to let their star man leave, although the club have shown they are willing to sanction a deal if the right amount is offered, as evident last summer when Lyon buckled under Arsenal’s £52.7million offer for Lacazette.
Fekir has been linked with a move to the Premier League before, having been consistently linked with Everton when Roberto Martínez was in charge, when Fekir’s profile was far less than it is now. More recently, Zinedine Zidane considered signing the Frenchman to Real Madrid last summer.
Wenger reportedly wants to complete a deal for Fekir before he reports for World Cup duty, in order to prevent a bidding war and skyrocketing price tags if he does well in Russia.