Arsenal boss Wenger keen to sign forward before new season
REUTERS - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said he wants to add one more attacking player to bolster his ranks before the new Premier League season.
Arsenal's efforts to recruit attacking reinforcements have been thwarted with French club Olympique Lyonnais saying this week that they had rejected a 29 million pound ($38.26 million) bid for striker Alexandre Lacazette.
Wenger's hopes of landing Leicester City's Jamie Vardy earlier in the transfer window were also frustrated when the striker decided to extend his stay at the King Power stadium after being pursued by the North London club.
Forward Gonzalo Higuain was also heavily linked by British media with a move to Arsenal before he joined Juventus, while Wenger's only forward signing in the current transfer window has been 21-year-old Japan international Takuma Asano.
"At the moment I have not too many attacking options in terms of experienced players," Wenger told reporters following a pre-season 2-1 win over the Major League Soccer All-Stars team.
"There are also a few players who did not play (against the MLS all-Star team), like (Santi) Cazorla and of course (Mesut) Ozil and (Aaron) Ramsey are at home. (Olivier) Giroud is also not here.
"So we have options but we will still look outside to find one more."
Arsenal's chief executive Ivan Gazidis has said that the club does not have the financial strength to "outgun" their league rivals in the transfer market, and Wenger described the money being spent on players recently as "scary".
"I personally believe that no matter what you do, it's never enough," he said.
"In the Premier League, every club is hugely ambitious. With the cheques that everybody signs, it's quite scary. But I believe we know what we have to do."
Arsenal begin their new campaign on Aug.14 when they host Liverpool at the Emirates stadium.
($1 = 0.7580 pounds)
(Reporting by Nivedita Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)