Should Arsenal give Alexandre Lacazette a new deal?

Alexandre Lacazette has shown how important he can be to Mikel Arteta’s side in the last two games. Entering the fray as a substitute against Crystal Palace, Arsenal looked like a different beast when the Frenchman came on.

It was more of the same against Aston Villa except this time the 30-year-old started, giving Arsenal that additional bite in the final third. His pressing, harassing and involvement in the link-up play was a consistently effective feature, putting him in the running to face Leeds.

Lacazette seems to have found a new lease on life since returning to the first-team fold. Having barely been sighted during the early part of the season, his reintroduction has seen Arsenal look a more connected side. As Arteta said, it’s what he ‘transmits’. Something he may get the chance to repeating on Tuesday.

He does offer things to the team that Aubameyang doesn’t as seen against Villa, but the pair can play together, and do so efficiently is used the right way: Lacazette’s energy and commitment are infectious to the rest of the team, and against the Villans, the crowd fed off that too.

Should Arsenal give Alexandre Lacazette a new deal after the French striker has shown what he can still offer Mikel Arteta’s side in the Premier League?

That does bring us to the question about what to do with Lacazette. Given that he is in the final year of his deal, are these performances only because he is wanting to put his best foot forward for a potential suitor? Is it another one of his short-lived bright spells? Or is this the type of performance we can expect week in and week out?

If the latter is true, then perhaps Arteta and Arsenal could think about giving Lacazette a new deal. While that will make some Arsenal fans cringe, and understandably so, it is food for thought seeing as Lacazette can leave for free in just a matter of months.

The club will not receive any fee for the Frenchman and if he continues to produce performances as he has in the last two outings, then he would command a decent enough fee for someone in his circumstances come January. What Arteta wants to do is another thing.

Is there a striker out there that he already has his eye on? Keep in mind that Lacazette is 30 and Aubameyang is 32 years old, the pair are coming to the end of their careers. If a new deal is offered to Lacazette, it absolutely can’t see him remain on similarly big wages and that could be enough for him to seek a move for free at the end of the season. A fresh challenge might already be on his mind.

A new deal does seem sensible in some aspects but with the age bracket of players that Arteta and Edu have brought in during the summer, Lacazette falls out of that and by some margin.

In all likelihood, if a deal was going to be agreed with Lacazette, then it would have been signed by now. It is becoming increasingly clear that it is going to be his final year in north London even if his last two outings might have given Arteta something to think about.

If those at the club can hand Granit Xhaka a new deal after he was 90% out the door, then a new deal for a fellow senior pro, in a side where the experienced heads aren’t in abundance, isn’t out of the realms of possibility.

Lacazette is proving his worth in his short stints this season and Arsenal is reaping the rewards. Showing tenacity, energy, and lifting the supporters off their feet, he has given this Arsenal team an injection of excitement that hasn’t been seen too often – Spurs game aside.

Whether it is Lacazette’s last season at the Emirates remains unclear, but one thing is for certain; he is making the most of it and continues to play the badge on his chest.