Alexandre Lacazette: the title-winning, world-class striker that Arsenal are missing
Without a shadow of a doubt, Arsenal have one of the strongest and most complete squads in the Premier League. From reliable veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech to assist king Mesut Ozil, the Gunners have talented players in more or less every position and many believe that Arsene Wenger’s men should be challenging for the English title in the near future. Arsenal have failed to lift the top-flight crown for far too long…
However, they are still lacking a major presence upfront. Olivier Giroud performed well for France at this summer’s European Championship but his critics doubt whether he can maintain that level of performance for an entire domestic campaign. In addition, Danny Welbeck’s injury issues continue to haunt him and the Theo Walcott experiment hasn’t really worked out if truth be told.
As of July 28, 32Red are offering 6/1 on Arsenal to win the Premier League title next season – something the Gunners haven’t managed to do since ‘The Invincibles’ romped to the crown in 2004. On paper, the current Arsenal squad has the capacity to maintain a title challenge throughout the duration of the season but their striker woes could come back to haunt them unless Wenger opts to spend big in the summer transfer window.
And one of the names on the lips of many Arsenal fans is Alexandre Lacazette. The Lyon star was exceptional last season, becoming the first Frenchman to score over 20 goals in back-to-back Ligue 1 campaigns since 1999. If nothing else, this shows his ability to perform on a consistent basis and his French connection should appeal to compatriot Wenger on a personal level if nothing else.
At 25 years old, Lacazette is the perfect age to move to the Emirates Stadium in a bid to help Arsenal regain the title. He is an intelligent footballer but above all, he’s a lethal finisher – his ability to find space inside the penalty area is unrivalled in European football and he finished second only to Zlatan Ibrahimović in the French league’s top goal scorer standings last season; a statistic that shows just how prolific he was at the top level.
On his day, the Lyon forward is capable of producing a moment of magic to unlock any defense – that’s how good he is. In fact, Arsenal fans will be licking their lips at the prospect of Lacazette playing in front of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sánchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alex Iwobi. With a competent striker in attack, Wenger’s men may finally manage to get their hands back on the crown. It certainly couldn’t hinder their chances…
Lacazette might not be the answer to Arsenal’s long-term issues but he is full of confidence, in his prime and on fire; three traits that suggest he could be the man to fire Arsenal back to the summit of English football. Wenger may be reluctant to take a chance on him as he is unproven away from Ligue 1 but he has the skillset to be a major success in the Premier League and you feel that another top-flight club will come knocking if Arsenal don’t.
One thing is for sure: Wenger needs to invest in another striker – Giroud cannot do it on his own. With Welbeck side-lined until after Christmas, Arsenal’s hopes currently rest with Giroud; and that won’t fill Gunners fans with confidence. Lacazette would give Wenger another option and dimension upfront; just look at his goals from the 2015/16 campaign below – he could cause mayhem in attacking areas on the counter-attack next season.
The France star isn’t the “big name” that some Arsenal fans have been calling for but realistically, Wenger was never going to invest heavily after spending £35 million on Granit Xhaka earlier this summer. Lacazette might be available for £40 million – which isn’t bad in today’s market… ESPECIALLY if he gives the Gunners a fantastic opportunity to finally get their hands back on the Premier League title…
If Lacazette is that good, and world class as you claim, how come he cannot get in the French national squad in front of Giroud, Gignac and Benzema.
Hmmmmm…..fingers crossed…
Interesting player…..wouldn’t be surprised to see him arrive, unless they ask really stupid money for him.
The point has been made that he was overlooked for the French team, but if Wenger got hold of him, I am sure he would exponentially improve.
Unless Wenger is going to bring in some other attacking player rather than an actual striker?
Whatever happens, would like to see Chuba given some sort of chance this season. Maybe too raw to gamble a season on him, but looks like this youngster may be one to watch for the future.
Apparently he’s said that he’d only move to a team that would give him CL football, so it really comes down to ‘which CL team will offer the money for him’.
I’d be happy for him to join us but if we have to pay through the nose for him then I’d rather get a younger guy with potential and use the saved money for some top class talent when it becomes available.
OG is far better than he’s given credit for, but he’ll be 30 in September.
Different style forward to O.G. Probably would bring a change option. Something we need.
A striker who have scored 48 league goals over the last two seasons, which is equal to the number of goals scored by Giroud, Walcott and Welbeck combined within the same period is easily worth £40 million.
Lacazete or not…i think a quality, and known/reputable striker that defenders could fear is what we need. Mauro Icardy, Lacazete, or Lukaku can serve.
We need a player of his class….
Previgo, comparing the PL with Ligue 1 is like comparing apples and fish.
That doesn’t mean he’s poor but those numbers prove nothing except he’s good for Ligue 1.
Certainly has an eye for goal albeit some of the defending is a bit suspect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSc3jBgGirw
Wenger knows more about this guy than any of our bloggers on UA, including myself AND he knows what he wants, without breaking the bank so to speak…..that’s his job and he does it well. He also isn’t looking for a quick fix but rather, as his usual philosophy proves, a medium to long term investment that wil lpay dividends over that time.
There is NO one single answer to our needs, since one player cannot usually make a significant difference in his first or second season, especially in the hardest, most dangerous league in the world. UA has shown this to be the case very clearly, so while the writer is appreciated for his (her?) stamina and passion, I think we all know that Wenger is out to surprise us once again, or maybe not!!!
Agree with Mick if Lacazatte was so good why Giroud has been fitst choice striker in the French national team?
Infact the blogtettas know nothing and they want to spew hatred for Wenger at all costs.
I wish we had signed higuain couple of seasons ago who eventually went to Napoli for around the same amount and has been getting them goals ever since he joined them. Never heard of him going out with injury. He has been scoring 20+ goals the three seasons he was there. And was a proven striker, he had played for real madrid and scored 108 goals in 178 league matches. The lacazette situation is the same, unless we take a chance we may be letting go a goal machine again simply because we did not tag him and bag him when we had the chance. 40 million is the new 20-25 million of past seasons.
And if we are not signing anybody, I wish we let chuba akpom get a good run of games.
Its pre-season, but I like what I am seeing of Akpom. Hez scored proper striker goals there. Hope he takes his chance and makes it big at ARSENAL.
Many of us think that getting a player is all about how much one spends(including wages) for the player. The player is not an inanimate object neither is he a slave who has no choice but to go where sold. The player has his own ideas on what he wants to do or where he wants to go.
Unless Arsenal is attractive to him(Higuain showed that he was not interested in Arsenal)he will not come to Arsenal however much they pay him.
So unless AW can convince Lacazette that Arsenal is a good place for him(this assumes that he is not somewhat anti-Arsenal) he won’t be coming here.
On the other hand, nothing comes before its time, so maybe this is the time that brings Lacazette to Arsenal.
I agree with Ajay
There’s a marked difference between PL and the French league. Who remembers Falcao? Besides Lacazette played with Lyon at Arsenal a few years back but even then, when we were being linked to him, I wasn’t impressed. When he comes, I will welcome him as our own, but I think even then, we would have to give him sometime in order to start banging in the goals.
Imagine having both Xhaka and Laca(zette) in the team. If Xhaka gives an assist to Laca(zette) and he would score we could shout/sing: boomxhakalaca
Walter-that cracked me up!!! 🙂
Why is Giroud picked for France in front of him.?
Style of play !
Deschamps likes to play him to bring Griezmann , Payet , Martial into the game as midfielders that are prepared to run past him . Once Benzema was out of the scene only Gignac could come in without changing the style. If Lacazette plays then one of his attacking midfielders has to be more defensive minded . Similar problem to ours until we bought Xhaka who hopefully will be a better shield than our attack minded midfielders.
Ajay, Higuaín OR Ozil? We couldn’t afford both that summer.
And Higuaín does get injured although I don’t believe he’s missed a game because of it in the last couple of years, but he was out for 3/4 months with a back problem some years back, and standard Hammys/muscle pulls as well. So yes he’s pretty resilient but he’s not indestructible.
Rubbish PR ……
Another halobalo talk of transfer.
Fact is there is more urgent need to cleanse the squad.
We need to bulldozer some utter crap like walcott and the idiot who extended his contract and wages.
You cannot ask the club to spend more when it is evident that there is big hole who is sucking resources.
Walcot is a sprinter football is enforced into him.Is kind of a gay man force him to have sex with the pretiest lady and his dick refuses to harden.
Wenger consistently persisting with rubbish us the one need to be sorted.
Same goes with Willshere …..obviously his body is not proven to be right for this kind of extreme sport.I call them Fake footballers as they bring nothing to the squad.
So is time to be realistic .No more new comers before clearing the rubbish in hand
My better half say Oliver is too much smiling and maybe too old and big for boys hairstyling. I understand her meaning and she is good cook like me. Hearing fish and chips at Emirates costing one arm and one leg. An old friend say Joe Baker still best. I say Kanu.
Joe Baker was special , only Wrighty had the same bite around the goal.Baker was as hard as nails just ask Ron Yeats and Dennis Law.
@ Alex,
‘We need to bulldozer some utter crap like walcott and the idiot who extended his contract and wages.’
And which football club you play for??
@polo
Is that all you can say…huh
Porter George Esteem too very good but they say fingers Furnell was bad. Is this like fish finger sandwich I make and maybe sell to Emirates. No one like Kanu and Wrighty good I saw very much many years ago. Now mouth to big with not much word.
Andy Mack
Fair enough, getting the both of them was not affordable the same year. But our finances are much better this year and if lacazette is seriously being looked at as a value addition then we should get him. And we did table an offer which indicates we are interested. And they are holding out for 42 million € and not £ as per reports, so we will take it with a pinch of salt. But if no striker purchases are made, I would love to see Akpom played in week in and out to change game dynamics
@ Alex, yes just a simple and quick answer will do.
West wing , George Eastham was a previous Ozil / Brady a fulcrum in the machine. Unfortunately like our current Jack Wilshere he was subject to unwarranted and illegal treatment from most opponents. Notably Revie’s Leeds Thugs Billy Bremner and Bobby Collins who combined at Highbury to not only deck him but stamped on his ankle and put him out of football for half a season.
The world turns but very little changes.
We need to bulldozer some utter crap posters like Alex. and the idiot who extended his contract and wages.
I fully understand the difference between the ligue 1 defending and that of the epl but how many would seriously bet against lacazette scoring more than 16(amount of league goals scored by giroud) league goals with the likes of ozil, santi, ramsey, sanchez and the ox behind him? Would anyone even dare to place any sort of bet on him going a full 13 league games witout scoring? Liverpool’s mamadou sakho was prefered to koscielny in the france national team some months ago, does that mean he is better than koscielny? Would arsenal seriously take gignac(who made the france squad) ahead of lacazette(who didn’t make the france squad) ? Sometimes making your national team doesn’t really mean you are better than the other guy who didn’t!
Previgo,
Plenty of top goal scorers have had long ‘dry spells’. In the 14/15 season Vardy scored 5 goals in 36 games (although I don’t know the spacing so it could be 1 every 7/8 games).
Having said that, yes it’s extremely unlikely He’d go 13 games without a goal, the same way it’s extremely unlikely Giroud will go 13 games without a goal again.
Alex…………….Your amazingly poor, grammatically absurd and factuallyunsupported rant awes me in its ignorance and banality:
1) Halobalo….is that the new hullabaloo?
2) Fact is there is more urgent need to cleanse the squad…..WHAT fact are you talking about? You need to cleanse yourself and after a high colostomy, come back 240 stone lighter!
3) Walcott is utter crap? Please explain your superior knowledge and experience which permits you to make such a claim. WAIT…the truth behind this rancid rant is revealed: Anti-Wengerism in full bloom!
4) Who is sucking money out of the club…..WAIT…..you know better than the Board,Gazidis and other professional football Club management….WAIT….you play FIFA football manager ….ok then!
5) Walcott is gay!? what are you implying? Oh WAIT…it is all clear now, you are talking about yourself ¨Is kind of a gay man force him to have sex with the pretiest lady and his dick refuses to harden.¨ Sorry to hear of your erectile dysfunction but the latest research shows that erectile issues go hand in hand with mental ones!
6) Indeed you need to be sorted……read on!
7) I call you a FAKE PLASTIC FANBOY and an aaa loser who adds nothing to anything, Football related or not!
8) Where did you mislearn to write English? Tony and Walter, please flush this idiot down the UA sewer so we can get on with the real work of supporting the Arsenal! Now that is a cleansing everyone would appreciate!
The thing with giroud is the pass has to be perfect for him to score, but with lacazette it doesn’t really have to be perfect because he has that pace to cover up for it and can create an opportunity out of nothing because he is capable of beating his man. Strikers who have pace, skill and can beat their man rarely go on a long dry spell! Now even stretching my imagination to the nth degree I cant make giroud be a bad striker but it’s clear we need a different option up top and giroud always looks better when coming on from the bench.
I also think we need an option up front for Giroud and as I 1st mentioned, I’d be happy with Lacazette. But although Girouds dry spell was unusually long, I also remember Wright, Henry and pretty much every other CF that’s been at a club for a few years having them as well.
What happens if we get Lacazette and he has one with us?
Does the emirates crowd suddenly decide He’s a poor as Giroud?
Of course the answer should be that if he’s an Arsenal Player then we should support him.
Surprised Alex’ comment was not blocked. It is homophobic & lewd.
Walter – I love your humour. Cracked me up.
All I can say as regards transfer of Lacazette is I would love it to happen just so that we can chant Walter’s boomxhakalaca! 😉
@omgarsenal – Do you really feel that it’s necessary to point out someones poor grammar and spelling, every time they make a comment you don’t agree with? If the rest of your points are valid, there is no need to point out how much more intelligent you are than them.
@omgarsenal
Poor old man ….you dont like my english ? well that is ur problem….
In my experience the true english men/women never ridicule others poor english accent or write.
But those of you so called naturalised try to be more english than the queen.
I would be happy to readjust my first comment had it been difficult to many but as long it is only you i am afraid it is your problem and next time deal well with your idiocy yourself.
You can disagree with mine or others opinion but do not plead the editor to ban making crazy story.
There is nothing Homophobic on my comment i just simply stated that a gay man is not aroused by a beautiful woman.which is It is true.Walcot is not a striker is not a winger is not a footballer.
Walcot is sprinter.
You are a sad old man that you cannot see other people opinion.
Ciao Bello
I just want to point out that i am in no way on Alex’ side and disagree with practically every single point he raised and do in fact believe that he is a idiot, but to continuously point out other peoples grammar mistakes, just comes across as a extremely snobby and petty.
Nothing on the level of; “Walcot is a sprinter football is enforced into him.Is kind of a gay man force him to have sex with the pretiest lady and his dick refuses to harden.” or “You are a sad old man that you cannot see other people opinion.”, but still, we should be above that juvenile and petty type of behaviour.