Barcelona to make a shock move for Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette

London, May 6: Arsenal star striker star Alexandre Lacazette is a reported £70million target for Barcelona in the summer.

The 27-year-old was recently named as the club's Player of the Year following an impressive season that has yielded 18 goals and 12 assists.

The Frenchman banged in a brace against Valencia on Thursday night to inspire the Gunners to a 3-1 win in the Europa League semi-final first leg.

And according to reports in England, Barcelona were watching the French international closely as he netted a first half brace at the Emirates.

They claim that they are lining up a £70m swoop as the Blaugrana look to bolster their attack to ease the burden on ageing Luis Suarez.

While they also claim that Lacazette is very close to Barcelona's technical secretary Eric Abidal, though formal talks between the club and Arsenal are yet to happen.

It was recently reported that the La Liga outfit could turn to the ex-Lyon marksman should they fail to snare Antoine Griezmann away from Atletico Madrid.

It has been suggested that the Catalan side could offer Arsenal both Andre Gomes and Samuel Umtiti to tempt Unai Emery into accepting the offer.

Lacazette fuelled speculation that he could be off at the end of the campaign after admitting he "could be happier" in North London.

The French hitman, who has netted 35 goals in 85 games for Arsenal, linked up with the squad in July 2017 from Lyon for a then club-record fee of £46.5m.

He has forged a key partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang since the Gabon international's arrival.

Arsenal suffered yet another blow to their top four hopes as they settled for 1-1 stalemate with Brighton on Sunday afternoon.

However, they can bring Champions League action back to the Emirates if they manage to win the Europa League this season.