Arsenal: 3 reasons for and against keeping Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal has a decision to make as far as Alexandre Lacazette is concerned. So here are three reasons for or against keeping him.

Most of Arsenal‘s potential exit talk is centered on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and how we can’t make a decision until we know where this club is going to finish out the season. If we finish in the Champions League and manage to offload Mesut Ozil, they might be able to keep Aubameyang. If they so desire. But this doesn’t include Alexandre Lacazette.

Lacazette’s fate likely isn’t tied to where the Gunners finish, but more about who the Gunners can get to replace him. If they even need to find someone. Eddie Nketiah could be his undoing as well. Whatever happens with the end of the season, it’s unlikely that the Champions League will affect Lacazette’s fate one way or another.

It will mostly just come down to if we need him anymore. And so, to address that all-important question, let’s dig into three reasons for and against keeping Alexandre Lacazette beyond this summer.

We start with No. 3 in favor of keeping him.

3, For: He’s a target man

In the Premier League, if you’re a possession heavy team, you kind of have to have a target man. Someone who can be a presence in the box, gobble up attention and retain possession and link-up play and all those good things. Playing with his back to the goal is his natural position, though he possesses the athleticism to move and flow with a counter-attack as well.

A target man is a very specific kind of striker and if we lose Lacazette, we will have to get exactly that kind of striker again. Someone like Luka Jovic, though we know Jovic won’t come cheap. Without that presence in the box, the infamous semi-circle passing will return with even less potential to convert into a goal.

That said, let’s roll wit this into the first reason for selling Lacazette this summer.