Rumour Mongering: Alexandre Lacazette (Again)

For those of you playing Once a Liverpool Transfer Target, Always a Liverpool Transfer Target Bingo, please take out your bingo daubers and mark out Alexandre Lacazette from your game board. The 25-year-old striker from Lyon has been linked repeatedly to Liverpool in the past, but never with any real authority.

The likely departure of Christian Benteke would make room for Lacazette both in the squad and on the books, with Lacazette's release clause rumored to be around £34.2 million (close to the reported £31.5 million fee offered by Crystal Palace for Benteke). Unfortunately, this morning's rumor comes from the same place as many of the previous (erroneous) ones, French newspaper le 10 Sport. So, take the reports with a heavy grain of salt.

The article, for what it's worth, also links the French striker with Arsenal and West Ham, but claims that Liverpool could hijack the deal because Jürgen Klopp is boss tha.

Whether Liverpool need to sign a striker is open for debate. Liverpool will surely play far fewer than the 63 matches recorded last campaign, but injuries will always remain a concern when one Daniel Sturridge leads the line. By bringing in Lacazette, they'd be bringing in a striker that fits Klopp's system far better than Benteke, and one that is ahead of Origi in terms of development and skill set. And at 25, Lacazette should be entering the prime of his career.

So, there are a lot of good reasons for this deal to happen, but history is against a Lacazette to Liverpool move actually happening.