Newcastle United have agreed a fee with Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, according to multiple sources. The signing of Lacazette would mark the tenth signing over the summer for the Toon. According to The Independent (linked above), a £15 million fee that may or may not include Lyon academy product Hatem Ben Arfa, who has fallen out of favor with Alan Pardew, but Lacazette has not yet agreed personal terms.
The 23-year-old Lacazette scored 22 goals in 54 appearances for Lyon last season, including 15 goals and five assists in Ligue 1 play. He's played center forward for Lyon, as well on both wings as an attacker. Newcastle are in need of goal scorers from whatever position, but Lacazette seems to check all the boxes for the Mike Ashley transfer policy.
If NUFC are able to capture the signature of the young striker, he will be the marquee signing of a summer that has included the purchases of Siem De Jong and Remy Cabella. In their last preseason match, Pardew started new strikers Emmanuel Riviere and Facundo Ferreyra. It would be no stretch to assume that Lacazette would immediately supplant one of them in the preferred Starting XI.
Lacazette is not close at all to holding up a shirt at St James' Park, as his primary objection to the move (according to The Independent and others) is the lack of Champions League football on Tyneside. Still, if this gets done and Newcastle are able to leverage an asset that they're clearly not interested in using in order to acquire a target they've had their eye on all along, it will be a...wait for it...good bit of business.