Alexandre Lacazette is thriving as Arsenal captain, but his current contract may prove problematic. Guest post by Sarah Rohan
The dropping of Aubameyang has proved to be a blessing in disguise for Lacazette. The once-regular substitute player this term is now getting starts in the first team setup. He is thriving playing with this team of youngsters and has now taken on the captaincy. Permanent or temporary; only time will tell. That all lies in the question, will he be here next season?
In my opinion, he’s been treated unfairly in north London. Neither under Wenger or Emery would Laca play from start to finish on a regular basis, and it difficult to understand why.
Until recently it was starting to look like the same was happening once again. Arteta was kind of forced into playing Lacazette in the regular starting line up and giving him more responsibility due to the Gabonese’s exile from the team, but this has shown what an important role Alexandre can play, and what he has always been capable of but never given the proper chance.
Since joining us in 2017 he’s made 137 appearances, scored 53 goals and assisted in 21. Now for someone who hasn’t been the main forward in the team, I think these stats are quite reasonable. Also seeing how he is playing, it doesn’t show that he isn’t good enough to carry on playing for us, it shows he is a different type of player and he has now got into a role that shows off his strengths.
Not an out and out striker but a constant threat for the opposition with his hold up play, constant pressing and creating spaces and goal scoring opportunities for his team.
I think this makes up for lack of goal scoring ability. He is full of running, dribbling and has the defensive ability, winning the ball back and tackling. He is an important part of our team and pivotal in keeping us with top four aspirations. The rest of the team respects him, he’s become a leader of this team in the dressing room and is constantly communicating on the pitch.
When Aubameyang joined Arsenal, Laca probably had his best season, but after that it seemed Alex was downgraded to a back up player. Also through the seasons he played out of position.
I’ve always wanted both to play together. They have had a great partnership when playing in the same team and they both read each others game. Unfortunately it’s not to be as Arsenal’s style of play doesn’t allow this set up. So the French forward has regularly lost out.
I think now with both contracts up in the air, although I still have great love for Pierre, he should still be a player to make an impact for the team. He is just too unreliable of late and obviously his recent antics have left a sour taste in our mouths, which is more likely to see him out the door.
I think I would prefer Laca to stay on anyway as he will be 31 this year, havimg a couple of years on Auba, and still a couple of years left in him to perform at his best.
Some people are writing him off because of his age but look at Aguero at 33. Up until he was forced to retire due to heart issues, no one questioned his age. So why question Lacazette? I have yet to see age catching up on him. Anyone that runs as much as he does would be worn out too. Even a kid!
With all the players likely to leave this month and in the summer, including the likes of Nketiah, Balogan, possibly Auba and Laca. Should we really risk bringing in just one striker who has to integrate into the team? It could take months for them to get settled and then we have no back up players because we’ve got rid of them all.
We don’t even know who we will be bringing in this transfer window yet. Some players won’t want to join a team that isn’t guaranteed European football, which as the table shows will be a close call as to who will make it.
Hopefully we do bring a forward in who can get used to playing within the team, and then we can decide who should leave us come May/June. Even Arteta has said there won’t be any decisions until the summer.
We would only be shooting ourselves in the foot by getting rid of our most experienced forwards when we don’t know how any new players will take to the team. Especially with the possibility of injuries also.
So I think if we could get two seasons out of the French forward it would be more beneficial to us. Personally I think we’ve done too little too late to convince him to stay. With no contract settled he will likely find a new challenge with a new team, who will appreciate him more than we have until now. Hopefully not to our detriment though!
Until next time Gooners.
Sarah
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