From France: Arsenal set to table fresh £11.5m bid to sign exciting attacker

Managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads during the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, Arsenal are set to table an improved offer for Alexis Claude-Maurice….

Arsenal are set to table an improved offer for Alexis Claude-Maurice worth around £11.5m after seeing an opening bid rejected by Lorient late last month, according to Get French Football News.

Unai Emery is expected to revamp his squad this summer after Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League last season and we need to inject some width and pace into our attack.

Danny Welbeck is leaving on a free transfer while the future’s of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil are in serious doubt so Emery is set to bring in a new attacker and Claude-Maurice has emerged as a target.

The Sun reported at the end of May that Arsenal had tabled an opening £6.2m offer for the 21-year-old and the youngster fuelled speculation over a move to the Emirates after being spotted in London with Matteo Guendouzi.

After seeing that initial offer knocked back, Get French Football News, together with journalist Mohamed Toubache-TER, claim Arsenal are now ready to test Lorient’s resolve by submitting a fresh bid worth in the region of £11.5m [€13m].

However, the French outlet says Arsenal’s improved offer will still fall short of Lorient’s valuation with the Ligue 2 side hoping to get between £13.3m-£17.7m [€15m-€20m] for Claude-Maurice’s signature this summer.

So it looks like we may have to dig a little deeper plus Arsenal also face plenty of competition as the report says the likes of AS Monaco, Lille, Mainz, Eintracht Frankfurt, Rennes and Gladbach are also chasing the French U20 international.

We’ll have to see how things evolve but French journalist Toubache-TER was the man to break the news that Guendouzi had joined Arsenal from Lorient last summer so he must have some decent contacts at the club.

Claude-Maurice is a product of the Lorient youth academy and he became a key first team player last season having contributed 14 goals and 4 assists in 35 games so he should bring some much needed creativity to our attack if he joins Arsenal.

READ MORE–> Arsenal transfer news

He obviously wouldn’t be a marquee name and some fans may be underwhelmed if he joined but the fact is Emery is working on a tight budget and this is the type of player I expect Arsenal to be after this summer.