Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette encore is going to be something special

Arsenal saw many moods of Alexandre Lacazette in his inaugural year, which is why year two is going to be so damn exquisite. Bring on the encore.

Arsenal saw the full spectrum of Alexandre Lacazette in the 2017/18 season. We saw him at his best, we saw him frustrated, banging his head on the wall and dejected, we saw him at his worst, we saw him injured and coming back from injury, we saw him replaced, we saw him out wide and up front.

We saw every possible angle of what the Frenchman can be, and the report card came back and it’s clear what he has at his disposal going into next year. And it’s the future prospects of the 27 year going into next year that make everything so exciting.

What we have to look forward to next year is more than just his budding bromance with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as if that wasn’t cause for excitement enough. (It is).

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What we saw from Lacazette was all the tumult you can expect from a guy that’s used to Ligue 1 and is expected to come solve all the problems of a Premier League club. There is a heavy dose of acclimation required, and Lacazette went through it all in one year.

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Basically, all that could have gone wrong for him, did. He had his minutes limited. He had a serious injury. He got replaced. And he got through all of it and, by the end of the year, he had built chemistry and was a better version of himself than when he arrived.

One full preseason with the club (without the World Cup…) will help him jive even more with his team, especially Aubameyang, which could work wonders.

But it’s not just the goals that make Lacazette special. it’s never been just about the goals. It’s his ability to link up play. I have always enjoyed the idea of him playing a Bergkamp-esque role behind Aubameyang because he has the creative abilities to do so, without a shadow of a doubt.

With more confidence comes more adventurous play, and that is what we can expect from Lacazette going into next year. Goals merely scratch the surface.

Of course, 20+ goals is kind of important as well. But expect his assists to get up near 8 or so as well.

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Basically, the world is at his feet. He has a fantastic situation to look forward to, which in turn gives us fans something to look forward to as well.