Arsenal have been told that they must lodge a bid of £57million if they are to sign Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette .
The France international has emerged as one of the Gunners' chief transfer targets this summer but Lyon CEO Jean-Michel Aulas has warned the Premier League side that the striker will not come cheap.
He has told Arsene Wenger that the Gunners will need to match Atletico Madrid's offer for the 26-year-old.
The Spanish side had agreed a deal for Lacazette before they were slapped with a transfer ban that means they are unable to register new players until January 1.
“I don't have the intention to sell Alexandre quickly because there is still the will of Atletico Madrid to return on January 1. Now, I will listen also to what Alexandre says," Aulas told L'Equipe .
"I saw Arsene (Wenger) during the France-England game (June 13). I was with Gerard Houllier (the former Liverpool boss is an advisor to Aulas) and I seemed to understand that he said to Gerard that there could be interest from Arsenal.
"But it is premature to say that that things will happen. We need to get in a big transfer first. We cannot let a player of this quality leave without a replacement.”
Asked if his club will sell Lacazette for €50-60million, Aulas responded: “It will have to be at least that.
"Everyone knows that Atletico's offer was €53million plus €12m in bonuses. That makes €65million (£57m). As the Arsenal directors well know, it will be in that range.
"The price for a player who scores 25-30 goals every year – sometimes more than 30 – is at least that.
"But frankly, I haven't yet thought about Arsenal for now because I thought that Alexandre was going to stay because the deal with Atletico fell through.”
Lyon are close to signing Bertrand Traore for £17million and are in talks to bring in Mariano Diaz from Real Madrid.
Aulas has also admitted that the club are interested in signing Olivier Giroud from Arsenal.
“There has been an approach to Giroud. He is a boy we like, who also scores a lot of goals and who has a lot of ambition for Russia (next year's World Cup).
“He told me himself that he wanted to take his time, that thing we not completely clear with Arsenal, and he had the secret hope to be the No 1 attacker at Arsenal next season.”