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LONDON. — French soccer side Lyon have rejected Arsenal’s bid for striker Alexandre Lacazette. Lyon have also “categorically denied” receiving an improved offer of £40m for Lacazette from the Gunners. French media outlet Le Progrès reported yesterday the Gunners had submitted the bid for the 25-year-old but Lyon quickly moved to refute the story. Arsenal did make a bid of £29.3m early in the summer – but had no response from Lyon, who are determined to keep the player.

A statement from Lyon said: “Olympique Lyonnais categorically denies having received a 48m euros (£40m) offer from Arsenal for Alexandre Lacazette like Le Progrès claims in their edition this morning.

“The club regrets yet again that Le Progrès did not decide to contact us before publishing this false information that has created confusion on the day where the Group, on the stock exchange, publishes its annual accounts showing 218.1m euros (£183m), a progression of 111 per cent from 2014/15.

“The reality is that the club Arsenal made an offer worth 35m euros (£29m), which Lyon did not follow up on for one reason: OL will keep Alexandre Lacazette who is irreplaceable and who is one of the main leaders in Bruno Genesio’s squad.”

Lacazette, who has been capped 10 times for France, scored 21 goals in 34 Ligue 1 appearances last season as Lyon finished second behind Paris Saint-Germain.

Arsenal are not the only English Premier League team who were interested in acquiring his services this summer, as West Ham had a £31m offer rejected in May.

Lacazette (25) has been on Arsene Wenger’s radar for several months as the French boss looks to bolster his attacking options.

Wenger, 66, has made three summer signings with midfielder Granit Xhaka, promising Japan forward Takuma Asano and England Under-21 defender Rob Holding added to his ranks.

But a marquee forward signing is still missing.

Bookies Ladbrokes make it just 2/1 for Lacazette to join Arsenal this summer.

Ladbrokes spokesman Alex Apati said: “It seems like the perfect match – Lacazette wants a new challenge and the Gunners want a new forward, and the odds are suggesting the striker could be heading to the Emirates pretty soon.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal are sweating on Per Mertesacker’s fitness ahead of the new season.

Mertesacker could be out for up to five months with a knee injury.

The German centre-back suffered the problem during Friday night’s friendly against Lens and was left out of Arsenal’s pre-season tour of the United States.

Arsenal are yet to confirm the news but an announcement will be made in the next 24 hours.

Mertesacker, who was Arsenal’s vice-captain last season, was favourite to be named new club captain at the Emirates following Mikel Arteta’s departure to Manchester City in the summer.

The giant German defender was not named in the Gunners’ squad for their pre-season tour of the USA.

The club tweeted that the 31-year-old wasn’t a part of the travelling party as he sustained a “knee problem”.

However, there are fears that he could be out for a long time.

Spanish journalist Kike Marin tweeted a worrying update earlier on Monday which read: “Mertesacker has a knee injury. He could be 5 months out. Bad luck!”

The Gunners are already without Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel.

That leaves Calum Chambers as Arsenal’s only fit senior central defender but new signing Rob Holding could partner his England Under-21 colleague in the US.

This news might prompt Wenger to take action, although they signed Bolton defender Holding.

The 20-year-old, who joined last Friday, has revealed what he will bring to the club.

“(In terms of my qualities), from the videos that have gone on the internet, a couple of tricks maybe in the box, which I probably won’t do straight away!,” he told the club’s official website. — Sky Sports.