Alexandre Lacazette - Gone and quickly forgotten?

Alexandre Lacazette - The Arsenal striker is gone, but how quickly will he be forgotten?

By Ben Hart

After five years in north London, Alexandre Lacazette has returned to Lyon.

He leaves with a record of 71 goals in 206 appearances, a return of just better than one every three games.

 

The Frenchman was signed to displace Olivier Giroud, with Arsenal still reeling from the 2015/16 season, where a lack of firepower arguably cost them the Premier League title.

 

Having arrived for a fee in the region of £50 million, then a club record, much was expected of Arsenal’s No.9.

 

Here we look at how his time at the Emirates will be remembered and whether the signing can be deemed successful.

 

Reluctance from the outset

 

Arsenal had been monitoring Lacazette for well over a year prior to his arrival in 2017.

 

Arsene Wenger passed up the opportunity to sign him the previous summer, instead favouring a move for Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.

 

Perhaps a factor in Wenger’s reluctance to sign Lacazette was his role, or lack thereof, in the French national team. 

 

Lacazette was left out of Didier Deschamps squad for Euro 2016, with Giroud instead leading the line as France reached the final on home soil before losing to Portugal.

 

The 31-year-old arrived a year later, having netted 28 times in 30 Ligue 1 matches in his final season at Lyon.

 

A goal after just 94 seconds on his first league start for the Gunners offered early hope that the signing would prove to be a shrewd one.

 

A further eight goals in his first half season in the division marked a good initial return. But after just six months at the club, the arrival of another marquee forward had an immediate and significant impact on Lacazette’s role at the club.

 

 

Aubameyang arrives

 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived six months after Lacazette and departed six months earlier.

 

Despite playing 43 games fewer, the Gabon international scored 21 more goals. Arsenal fans undoubtedly have fonder memories of Aubameyang.

 

Wenger dropped Lacazette in favour of Aubameyang for the first game after the latter’s arrival. Aubameyang scored in a 5-1 demolishing of Everton, and from there the die was cast.

 

Wenger, and later Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta all grappled with how to best shoehorn the pair into the side.

 

Their best game as a pair came in a memorable 4-2 Europa League semi-final win over Valencia, with Arsenal fielding a back three. But after humiliation at the hands of Chelsea and Giroud in the final, Emery reverted to a back four for the following season, seeking a better balance within his team, with Lacazette once more the fall guy. 

 

Then after the arrival of Arteta, Aubameyang was deployed from the left with Lacazette centrally, but the Spaniard’s preference for Aubameyang to lead the line soon became clear.

 

For three successive Arsenal managers, Aubameyang was the clear favourite.

Goal return

 

Strikers are ultimately judged on their goal return, and in that regard Lacazette fell short of expectation.

 

Not once did he net 15 times in a Premier League season, and he only managed four this term, two of those coming from the penalty spot.

 

It’s unfortunate for Lacazette that his final season at the Emirates will be remembered for Arsenal narrowly missing out on the Champions League to Spurs, largely because of their rivals vastly superior attacking options.  

 

Lacazette never truly acclimated to the pace of the Premier League, and regularly departed around the 60^th and 70^th minute, with most of his Premier League goals coming in the first half of matches.

 

It is perhaps telling that his Europa League goal return for Arsenal, 13 in 27 games, suggests the intensity of matches elsewhere in Europe better suited his game. 

 

A leader and a mentor

 

Lacazette will, however, be remembered fondly for his leadership and the guidance he offered to younger members of the team.

 

Shortly after his breakthrough into the senior team, Emile Smith Rowe was asked which senior players had helped him settle into the side.

 

He replied: "Alexandre Lacazette. Playing with him up top really helps me. He gives me a lot of confidence off the pitch and he talks to me a lot.”

 

Lacazette had earlier been appointed one of Emery’s five captains at the beginning of the 2019/20 season after the departure of countryman Laurent Koscielny and wore the armband following Aubameyang’s exit in January this year.

 

But with his output waning further still, he was dropped in favour of Eddie Nketiah, who scored more goals than Lacazette despite not starting a league game until February.

 

Lacazette will be remembered as a hard-working and likeable player but considering the sizeable fee it took to sign him, and with Arsenal not seeing any return on that, one who ultimately failed to live up to his billing as a consistent goalscorer. 

Photo credit: Getty Images