Charles Watts, who reports on Arsenal for Goal, recently posted a Q&A video on his YouTube channel and during that video, the journalist spent some time talking about the Gunners’ interest in Celtic forward Odsonne Edouard.
After spending some time on loan with the Hoops during the 2017/18 season, Edouard joined Celtic on a permanent basis in the summer of 2018 and the forward has been enjoying his time at Parkhead since then, ending the 2018/19 season and the 2019/20 season as the Hoops’ top goalscorer in all competitions.
His impressive goalscoring displays in recent seasons have seen him get linked with a move to various Premier League clubs this summer, such as Leicester City, Everton and Arsenal.
During a recent Q&A video that was posted on his YouTube channel, Watts was asked about potential replacements for Alexandre Lacazette, should the Frenchman leave the Emirates this summer and the reporter opted to discuss Edouard in response to that question.
Watts said: “[I] can’t give you too much on Arsenal’s targets if Lacazette leaves – pretty unclear on that at the moment – obviously, we don’t know if Laca’s going to go, for a start.
“They like Edouard up at Celtic, I’ve talked about him before. He’s a player they’ve watched extensively. They’ve got good contacts with Celtic, signed Kieran Tierney last summer and Nick Hammond’s the sporting director up there – he’s a former Arsenal player, former Arsenal goalkeeper, he’s got good contacts with the club still, but we don’t know if Laca’s going yet.”
Would Edouard be a good replacement for Lacazette?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
So, while Watts was confident enough to say that Arsenal “like Edouard,” explaining that they’ve watched the player “extensively,” it appears as though he won’t be signed unless Lacazette departs from the club.
The 29-year-old has been linked with a move away from the Emirates this summer, with Calciomercato recently reporting that the Gunners would like to receive between €30-35m (£26.98-31.48m) for the player who is allegedly attracting interest from Juventus.
If the Gunners believe that Edouard would be a suitable replacement for Lacazette, then we feel that this may not be a bad bit of business for the North London club to do, considering that, at 22, the Celtic man is seven years younger than Lacazette at present.
However, Edouard, who is valued at £13.5 million (as per Transfermarkt), hasn’t got any experience of playing in England’s top flight, so it remains to be seen if he would be able to carry his impressive form in Scotland over to the Premier League and it may be fair to say that signing him as a replacement for Lacazette would have an element of risk to it.