Arsenal have finally announced the signing of Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette for a reported club record fee of up to £52.6m, on a five-year-deal ending months of speculation.
What’s the word?
Arsene Wenger has broken the club’s transfer record as the club’s promised overhaul kicks into gear, in a deal which was supposedly a decade in the making.
According to French journalist Julien Laurens, the Gunners have been scouting the Lyon academy graduate since he was 16-years-old, when former Arsenal defender come-scout Gilles Grimandi was sent under instruction from Wenger to take a look.
Since then Wenger has sent scouts time and again to watch the now 26-year-old, who has been prominently linked with a move to The Emirates for over a year now.
Where now for Arsenal?
Arsenal fans have been hammering the club to ‘Announce Lacazette’ since the final whistle in their FA Cup victory over Chelsea in May, now that the deal is done, what does it mean for Wenger’s side.
Whilst Lacazette is a distinguished Ligue 1 goalscorer, with 100 league goals to his name for Lyon, he is by no means an out and out centre forward, and sits in somewhat of a void between being a winger and a striker.
That may sound ominous, but the French international has so much to offer the Gunners in terms of his play in and around the box.
Lacazette has all-number of finishes under his belt, whether he be having a go from 30 yards or three, furthermore while he avoids simply tearing a back line in two with blistering pace, his movement in tight spots is subtle yet second-to-none and should cause no end of problems to Premier League defences with the likes of Mesut Ozil and resurgent Aaron Ramsey feeding him from behind.
So, while Arsenal fans may have been expecting someone to continually break in behind that may not be the case, but they are very much getting a star who is more than capable of scoring 20+ a season.
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