Reports that Arsenal are preparing a £12 million bid for Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris are slowly gathering pace. Club president Jean-Michel Aulas has admitted that the France captain will be allowed to leave the club if he were to receive an appropriate offer, sparking a series of newspapers to report that Arsène Wenger has been put on high alert. Aulas told French television channel TF1 “Lloris can go, but only for a decent price in relation to the market”.
According to L’Equipe, Arsène Wenger is ready to make a move for Lloris as he searches for a new keeper who will really put pressure on Wojceich Szczesny. Manuel Almunia has just been released, while Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone hardly instill confidence in Arsenal fans. It is hardly a surprise, then, that Wenger would be monitoring the French international; he would settle in nicely because Arsenal already have 5 of his national teammates in the squad and most French players dream of at some point working under Arsène Wenger.
Szczesny is perhaps is becoming slightly complacent given that there are no other strong goalkeepers that are hot on his heels, so having Lloris at the club could be a big help. Arsenal also need to find some strength in depth because at the moment we don’t really have a back-up plan if Shezza does become injured. At 25-years-old, Lloris can definitely be considered as a world-class keeper and has lots of experience in both league and international football that he could pass on to the other keepers at the club. Szczesny is only 22 and (in my opinion) still has a lot to learn. Don’t get me wrong, the Pole is a fantastic keeper, but his age and inexperience let him down on occasions last season. However, I am well aware that Wojceich will only get better with age and game-time.
The question I have is whether Lloris is really needed at Arsenal? There is no doubt that he is currently a better keeper, so this would definitely be an improvement to the squad, but there are far more pressing problems to address. A new goalkeeper is probably number 4 or 5 on the list of things to do after signing a van Persie replacement, a new defensive midfielder, a creative midfielder and maybe another right-back. The signing of Lloris would be a luxury, but it is not a necessity.