Arsenal: Reevaluating what Alexandre Lacazette was meant to be

With rumors that Alexandre Lacazette could leave Arsenal, it’s time to evaluate what he was meant to be and what he ended up as.

Alexandre Lacazette was Arsenal‘s first major strike signing of the modern era. All of their previous standouts—Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry especially—migrated over from wingers. Olivier Giroud was not a signing met with much aplomb, despite how well he ended up doing his job.

Lacazette, though, he was supposed to solve our striker issues. He was coming in where Giroud left off and he was going to elevate Arsenal to a higher level with his goal-scoring prowess. He was coming off three straight 20+ goal season in Ligue 1 and fans were frothing wondering what he could do at the Emirates.

Tentatively, we anticipated 15-20 goals per season as he solidified himself as one of the better strikers in Europe.

Obviously, that never panned out. In his first year, nabbed 14 goals and four assists, in his second, 13 goals and eight assists and this year he’s just got the seven goals and three assists.

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He has yet to hit the 15 goal minimum we expected him to bring.

And now, with rumors of an exit this summer, it’s time to evaluate what his legacy would be at Arsenal if it were to end so soon.

In three years with the club, he has never hit the statistical output that we needed from him. In fact, he’s never even played in a Champions League match for us, as we haven’t been back since he arrived. His confidence has been all over the place, partly because of injuries, partly because he just can’t seem to keep his head on straight. Same way Olivier Giroud often couldn’t.

But whatever statistical output Lacazette struggled to amount to, he did build up one hell of an exciting partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He took home player of the season last year because of his contributions outside of scoring goals and he’s been a phenomenal asset when he’s been at his best.

There’s just no hiding that what he was meant to be was never lived up to. That’s why we had to go and get Aubameyang in the first place. Because Lacazette wasn’t enough.

Nowadays, I don’t think you’ll find many people who demean the signing of Lacazette. Was he worth it? Of course he was. But you do have to alter what makes his signing a success.