Mikel Arteta urged to sell Alexandre Lacazette to raise Arsenal transfer funds

Mikel Arteta has been advised to sell Alexandre Lacazette to raise transfer funds as he looks to strengthen his Arsenal squad ahead of the new season.

The advice comes from Gunners legend Ray Parlour, who insisted Eddie Nketiah can step up to fill the void that would be left by Lacazette’s departure.

Juventus and Atletico Madrid are among the clubs who have been linked with interest in Lacazette, and Parlour says his old club should cash in on the French striker.

“Sometimes you have to lose a player to bring players in,” the former England midfielder told TalkSport.

“You do need to freshen up the dressing room.

“I like Lacazette, he’s a decent player, but we have Eddie Nketiah and it’s all about whether he can step up now and improve as a centre-forward.

“That’s what Arteta will be looking at in training – ‘Is he good enough to play week-in week-out as a striker?’

“Probably not at the moment, but he can improve and probably can do in a couple of years’ time.”

As Arsenal prepare to face Liverpool in Saturday’s Community Shield clash at Wembley, the rsquad strengthening is continuing behind the scenes.

The Gunners hope to complete the signing of centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille for around £27million, and are also trying to tie down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to a bumper new deal.

Arsenal have also signed Willian on a free transfer and have secured permanent deals for defenders Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares so far this summer.

But Arteta is keen to bolster his squad further before the window shuts in October after his side could only finish eighth in the Premier League last term.

And for the manager to sign more of the calibre of players he will need to bridge the gap to the Premier League’s top teams, he may have to sell first.

Parlour says Lacazette is the player the Gunners should look to sell, rather than Aubameyang, who was linked with clubs including Barcelona and Manchester United earlier this summer.

“Lacazette will be the one, the asset,” said Parlour, who helped Arsenal win the league and FA Cup double during the 2001/2 campaign and then was part of the Invicibles title triumph two seasons later.

“You look at the assets they’ve got, there isn’t many really.

“They’ve got Aubameyang, but with him you’re not going to get as much as you’d like because, currently, he’s only got a year left on his contract.

“Probably the asset will be Lacazette. I know Juventus were interested in maybe buying him.”