Arsenal prepare £22m bid for Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Dennis seen as a replacement for Lacazette

ENGLISH Premier League side Arsenal are preparing to make a £22m bid for Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Dennis in a desperate attempt to boost their weak forward line ahead of the impending 2020/21 season.

In England, the Premier League will kick off on Saturday September 12, with Arsenal getting their campaign underway away to fellow Londoners Fulham. After that, however, Arsenal have a set of daunting fixtures as the Gunners face Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United all away from home in their first seven games.

Last season, Arsenal finished a disappointing eighth in the table but managed to qualify for Europe thanks to the fact that the club won the FA Cup. Going into the new campaign, Arsenal will be hoping to qualify for the Uefa Champions League and know that to achieve this, the company will need to strengthen its forward line.

At the moment, Arsenal is over-dependent on skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for goals and things are more complicated by the fact that French striker Alexandre Lacazette looks set to leave for Juventus. Denis is thus seen as an ideal replacement, forcing Arsenal to submit a £22m bid to his Belgian side Club Brugge.

Club Brugge manager Philippe Clement, said: “He can also count on a lot of interest. It is the time for him to take a new step.”

Apart from Arsenal, Everton, Wolves and Newcastle are all known to be interested in the twice-capped Nigeria international. Dennis, 22, enjoyed a decent campaign for Club Brugge last season, scoring nine goals and providing two assists in 33 appearances, including a Champions League brace against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa is also a big fan of  Dennis who he sees as the ideal targetman to compete with his current striker Patrick Bamford for a starting shirt. A big targetman who holds the ball up well, Dennis made his debut for the Super Eagles on September 10 last year in a 2–2 friendly draw with Ukraine, coming on as a 82nd-minute substitute for Samuel Chukwueze.