English Premier League giants Arsenal FC had vowed to give its full financial support to complete the top two transfer goals of its head coach Arsene Wenger this summer, according to recent reports.
The Gunners management had reportedly told the 66-year-old manager, who had been serving the Holloway, London residents for 20 years now this month, that "he can have whatever transfer funds it takes to secure his main targets Alexandre Lacazette and Shkodran Mustafi" before the English summer window closes on September 1, as per The Times.
Wenger had long been searching for a game-changing goalscorer that could provide steady offense to his liking as he finds current strikers Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, and Joel Campbell somewhat lacking.
Alex Iwobi and Serge Gnabry are still young guns that lack experience and so it may take a few more years before they reach their full potential.
The French mentor is said to be looking at Lyon's Lacazette to provide his preferred style as he is considered a perfect fit to Giroud or Walcott in the coach's 4-4-2 up front.
Arsenal had budgeted £100 million for Wenger to use this summer and so far only £30 million was spent in the signing of Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach.
But now, the club is said to be ready to spend beyond the remaining £70 million just to pull off Wenger's plans as its senior officials acknowledged that the market today is inflated.
Wenger is also looking at Valencia center back Mustafi to join his team after incoming team captain Per Mertesacker was hit by an injury bug just recently and could possibly miss the first few months of the new season.
Caught Offside noted that his other central defender, Laurent Koscielny, is also "set to miss the start of the new Premier League season having been given additional time off after Euro 2016".
At the moment, Brazilian Gabriel is the only experienced center back in Wenger's side and so an additional one is badly needed.
New signings Rob Holding and Calum Chambers are both untested and if Wenger fails to sign Mustafi this summer then he may be forced to settle with a raw backfield next season.