5 new signings likely to flop in the 2017/18 Premier League season

#4 Alexandre Lacazette

Alexandre Lacazette may find the step up to the Premier League a difficult one

After a disappointing 2016/17 season and with Alexis Sanchez looking ever more likely to be on his way out, Arsenal are pinning almost all of their hopes this season on their new signing, French striker Alexandre Lacazette. The striker was a goal-machine at Lyon for the last four seasons, but there are plenty of reasons to worry about how he’ll fit in at the Emirates and whether he can really be the spark that the Gunners need.

The French league is a very different place to the Premier League and while it’s not an outright weak league, the step up in quality for Lacazette will be huge. Even the weaker Premier League teams have sturdy defences, especially with the TV money allowing smaller clubs to bring in better players. Many of Lacazette’s goals in France came against weaker sides, the likes of which he’ll basically no longer be playing against.

We’ve seen plenty of times that a player who can score goals for fun in one of Europe’s lesser leagues doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll score in England – see Vincent Janssen for instance – and the added pressure of being Arsenal’s marquee signing, the man who’s expected to help the club climb back up to the Champions League places, might well be too much to take for Lacazette.

With the possibility of Sanchez – and perhaps Olivier Giroud too – abandoning ship at the Gunners, even if he does settle in well, there’s no guarantee Lacazette will be a hit at the Emirates playing alongside lesser talents. I feel it’s more likely that he’ll struggle.