Alexandre Lacazette’s future will be decided in the summer, according to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
The France striker - who is Arsenal’s top scorer this season with nine goals - has less than 18 months remaining on his current contract and talks over an extension have yet to take place.
But Arteta, who saw Lacazette score twice on Saturday during his side’s 4-0 win at West Brom, says there is no rush to get the frontman tied down.
“We have not talked about anything related to his contract,” said the Spaniard. “I am delighted with the way he has performed because he is scoring, has the form and energy at the moment so he needs to keep doing that.
“We will talk in the summer and make a decision then.”
Lacazette has scored five goals in Arsenal’s last four games and was hugely influential as Arteta’s side made it three successive wins in the Premier League on Saturday with their convincing victory at West Brom.
He scored twice in the second half, adding to first-half strikes from Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka to cap another excellent all-round performance.
“He was great,” said Arteta. “He needed that confidence with the goals.
“His work rate is always there, he’s always fighting for the team but he needed that luck for the ball to land to him in the right moments.
“I think he’s in a great moment, we have to take advantage of that and give him minutes because it seems like he’s enjoying it.”
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While Lacazette is enjoying a rich vein of form in front of goal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang continues to endure his worst slump in years.
Arsenal’s skipper failed to score again on Saturday, meaning he has just goal in the league since netting a penalty against Manchester United on November 1.
But Arteta insists he is not concerned by his captain’s barren spell and has praised others for stepping up and finding the net in recent weeks.
“I keep saying, we can’t keep putting all the weight on Auba’s shoulders to score the goals,” he said. “We need contributions.
“The midfielders need to score more and give more assists, and we need goals from our wingers as well. Laca is in great form and has scored five goals in his last four games, which is what we need from our strikers.
“Auba had some chances to score on Saturday and it was the same in the last game or so, but I am so pleased because in the final third we looked lively and there was a lot of movement.
“There is good energy, there is a real purpose and everybody is playing forwards. It’s like we are free to play there and the understanding is allowing us to generate a lot of things there.”
