Scout report: Alexandre Lacazette

Alexandre Lacazette

His inter-play with some of the other attackers like Gourcuff, Grenier and Benzia is also very exciting, and adds synergy to Lyon’s play. He particularly has a good understanding with Clement Grenier. He generally looks to be involved in one-twos, as it allows him to use his pace and understanding with his team-mates. He enjoys linking up with the other attackers, rather serve as a hold up player, because his education has been directed at achieving such a playing style.

This season, Lacazette has started as a lone striker, but switched positions with Benzia through the game. This may be an attempt on the part of Remi Garde to accommodate all his talented players. Either way, Lacazette spends most of his time in the strikers position. This means he needs to make certain changes to his running and positions from last season, when he played behind the striker.

Here is a perfect example of how manager, Remi Garde, has altered Lacazette’s position from last season. Below is his performance area against Bastia from the 2012/13 campaign.

With Lisandro Lopez’ sale to Al-Gharaffa in the Qatari Stars League, the onus is on young Alexandre Lacazette to lead the line for Lyon in the 2013/14 season. His positional change can be seen below, as he has shifted into a more centralised position and restricting from drifting wide too often.

A weakness of Lacazette’s is his overall aerial ability. He stands at 5 ft 9, which is pretty small this will let his game down as a lone striker given that Lyon tend to send a fair few aerial crosses in which they expect to be met by his head. Saying that, he does have a good spring on him which could certainly help in his development in this particular area.

Another thing that works in his favour as a striker who will look to attack in close conjunction with his midfielders is his touch. He has a very good first touch, and the ball rarely ever goes too far from him when he takes it. His close control is very good too, and he manages to keep the ball away from defenders. This is important as it allows him to retain the ball, and hold up better.

The other factor aiding his play as a striker, ahead of someone like Benzia, is his upper body strength. He has the ability to hold off defenders physically, adding to his value in the role of a forward. A BMI of 23.8 indicates that he’s well stocked here, and should be able to cope with the physical demands imposed on him by defenders.

He has incredible speed and quickness, useful for Lyon on the counter attack and open play. He can breakway from defenders fast and this is very important for a striker, especially in Ligue 1 as there are a fair few quick centre backs who are hard to escape from if you are more of a slower striker. But, there are no centre backs who can keep up with Lacazette once he gets going.

Transfer rumours

Over the past few years, Lacazette has gained interest from top tier clubs with none of the interest ending in concrete discussion. But clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham, Roma and Inter have reportedly shown interest according to various media outlets. Arsenal have been the most recent to be interested, as their need for a striker is becoming desperate and media are linking them to any striker in the world right now.

Alexandre Lacazette is under the same agency as another highly sought after youngster, Kurt Zouma, who currently plays for Saint Etienne. Safe to say that ‘Score Agencies’ are going to have their work cut out over the next few transfer windows.

It’s unlikely that Lacazette would currently move on or it would have to be a hefty fee to prize him away from the Stade de Gerland. Lyon have a bright future ahead , they play exciting football and could well challenge Monaco or PSG for the league. Lacazette seems really fitted into the Les Gones and it would surprise many to see him leave any time soon.