Arsenal: Selfless Alexandre Lacazette the perfect leading man

Alexandre Lacazette has stated that he does not care about individual records. His selflessness is perfect for being Arsenal’s leading man, a team that struggled to be harmonious and together in recent years.

In the modern footballing world, the loyal and the humble are difficult to find. Unfortunately, the inflated wages have brought inflated egos, and with it, an expectation of being pandered to, being adorned by the fans, being celebrated and revered for the mere existence of their apparently other-worldly talents. That leaves little room for those who put the team before the I.

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Such characters are becoming increasingly rare in life. To have the self-awareness and self-confidence to accept a lack of praise for the betterment of other people, even people in the same team, is rare. Thankfully, in Arsenal’s new striker, they may have found one.

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Alexandre Lacazette is a goalscorer. To be so, he must be selfish. That is the name of the game when it comes to being a striker. But that does not mean that his own ambition must come before that of the club; the team, to Lacazette, always comes first. After he scored twice in the 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Monday night, Lacazette equalled a record stretching back to 1988 of scoring a goal in his first three home league appearances, a record initially set by Brian Marwood. When asked about it, this is what he had to say:

"“I was told about the record. It is no big deal. It is not the kind of record I am looking for. I am not especially looking for records. I am looking for stability with the team and this evening was better and better. We won with a clean sheet so all the better for everyone. Everything is not perfect but we had possession, we did not concede. We scored. Even if I think we can do better, it is good already. We are unbeaten in September. We have reorganised ourselves defensively and everyone is working together and that is how you can see the difference.”"

Lacazette turned a question about his own, personal success into an answer about keeping a clean sheet. That, perhaps, shows the measure of the man. To him, it is the success of Arsenal that vindicates his own success. He is a team-first player.

And in recent seasons, it could be levelled at several players that they have not been team first, instead, worried about me, myself and I. Mesut Ozil and his laziness, for example; Alexis Sanchez and his strops.

Now, I do not know Lacazette personally. I have never even met the man. I am a mere writer giving my opinion from a very detracted and external standing. Nevertheless, to see a striker, no less, herald the team performance of keeping a clean sheet, stating that he wants to establish stability for the team, not break records, is a rare and wonderful thing.

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Football, after all, is a team sport, even though, sometimes, it may not feel like. The Zlatans and Cristianos try to make it all about them. But it’s not. It’s about the team. That is the attitude that Lacazette has and it’s magnificent.