Alexandre Lacazette responds to people saying he was ‘finished’ after leaving Arsenal

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Alexandre Lacazette had a really poor final season at Arsenal, but he has become a superstar in Ligue 1 since leaving the Gunners last summer.

The Frenchman joined the North Londoners from Lyon back in 2017 for a then club-record £46.5 million (BBC). He didn’t quite live up to all the hype at the Emirates with respect to his goalscoring, but he was a good servant for Arsenal during his five-year stay at the club.

Lacazette re-joined Lyon on a £93,000-a-week (SalarySport) contract after his deal expired at Arsenal last summer.

• MORE: Arsene Wenger delivers verdict on Alexandre Lacazette, nine months after Arsenal released him

Alexandre Lacazette responds to people saying he was ‘finished’ after leaving Arsenal

One of Arsenal’s biggest issues last season was lack of goals.

Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe were their two top scorers last term, and the fact that others didn’t contribute enough cost them a place in the top-four.

Lacazette, who wore the number nine shirt for Arsenal, only managed four goals in the Premier League, and he was at the end of some serious criticism at the end of the campaign.

Many went as far as saying he was ‘finished’ at the top level, but the Frenchman has proven them all wrong by scoring 24 goals and providing five assists in all competitions so far.

Speaking to Telefoot about people doubting him, Lacazette said: “Many people thought I was finished. They were saying that I wouldn’t succeed. That the club was making a mistake (signing me).  

“I wanted to show that Lyon were right in calling on me.” 

TBR View:

Lacazette really has been brilliant for Lyon this season.

After the kind of campaign he had at Arsenal last time out, nobody would’ve expected him to fight for the Golden Boot award with Kylian Mbappe this time. But, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

That is really good to see, and Lyon sure are lucky to have him – they’d be in the bottom half of the table if it wasn’t for his goals.

There are six games still left in the Ligue 1 this season, and it will be interesting to see if Lacazette can pip Mbappe to finish the campaign as the top scorer.