Chelsea join long list of suitors for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette — report

Supposedly a fallback option should Chelsea fail to secure Romelu Lukaku’s signature this summer, Alexandre Lacazette has been linked with the Blues by L'Equipe today (via Inside Futbol).

The 26-year-old forward has been at Lyon since his youth, making his debut in 2010. Since then he’s made 275 appearance and has scored 129 goals, while earning 11 caps for the French national team and a Ligue 1 Player of the Year award in the 2014-15 season. Last season, he netted a career-high 37 goals in 45 appearances.

He looked set to join Atlético Madrid earlier this summer, but the deal fell through due to the Court of Arbitration for Sports' decision to uphold the Spanish club's transfer ban until January next year. Since then, Arsenal have been touted as favorites for his signature, but they are apparently having trouble convincing him due to their unexpected lack of Champions League football.

So Manchester United, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and now Chelsea have been thrown back into the fray as supposed candidates for Lacazette’s signature, which will not come cheap. Lyon are demanding £50 million plus add-ons to let go of their top goalscorer of the last four years.

Although 11 of Lacazette's goals this year have come from penalty kicks, his quality in front of goal is pretty obvious. He is also capable of playing in wide positions, which is certainly a plus. All in all, he would be a pretty good signing whether or not Lukaku returns to the Bridge, though this is nothing more than idle chatter at this point.