Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette not going to make this easy

Arsenal fans had been more or less reserved to seeing Alexandre Lacazette sold, but after a tremendous solo effort, things got tougher.

There aren’t a lot of Arsenal fans who would have put up much of a fight a few weeks back arguing for the preservation of Alexandre Lacazette. The general consensus was that if we could get a good sum for him—£30m or so—we’d take it in a heartbeat.

That’s gradually changing. In his last four matches, only three of which are starts, he’s notched three goals and an assist and proven to be a conduit in the attack. Especially against Liverpool, when he was just fantastic at being a self-starter up top.

That kind of inspiration and innovation from a striker has not been seen in ages. I normally count on Nicolas Pepe to provide that, but he was nowhere to be found, leaving Lacazette to pick up the slack and create for himself.

So my question is how much this changes the Alexandre Lacazette situation, if any. Are we more inclined to keep him now that he is performing at his best again?

Not just that, but he did this without Aubameyang. For the longest time, it looked like Lacazette could only perform when Auba was out there with him. That was far from the case here. Lacazette was the guy and he looked the part of a superstar striker.

Lacazette has two years left on his contract, he’s 29-years-old, the decision is here. This summer, something has to be done with Lacazette, either commit and keep him well into his 30s or sell him on and replace him.

Honestly, as much as I love to see him perform like this (obviously), Arsenal was at their best when they were ruthless. When they were selling players at the peak of their value. To commit to Lacazette beyond what he’s given us is a risk they don’t need to take when they could flip him and get younger in one fell swoop.

That doesn’t mean that it will be easy to do so. We all love Lacazette. He’s a tremendous performer. But no matter what else he does this year, I have trouble justifying a case for him staying.

If nothing else, it just feels like a way to drum up a little value before selling him. If we can get anything around what the rumors suggest, it’s worth it.