Arsenal have been handed a boost in their quests to land an attacking target this summer, with the news that another European giant has pulled out of the running.
Spanish outlet Sport claims Barcelona have ended their pursuit of Lyon’s Nabil Fekir, who was reportedly a £45m target for the La Liga leaders.
However, the report says that the Catalan giants have shut the door to the French international as they consider him, and the rest of his Lyon team-mates, to not be good enough- and the signing of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in January has also provided an impact.
That means Arsenal could face reduced competition on the market for Fekir if they continue to push for the former team-mate of striker Alexandre Lacazette, with it believed that the Gunners want to re-unite the pair to push last summer’s expensive signing to his best form.
Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas is a shrewd negotiator though and will demand a hefty price for the 24-year-old, whilst it’s also not exactly clear where Fekir would feature in the Arsenal line-up alongside the likes of Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
