Alexandre Lacazette Biography

Arsenal’s current No. 9 and striker, Alexandre Lacazette may be one of the best French strikers in terms of quality since the emergence of Karim Benzema at Lyon. Granted he hasn’t been able to replicate his exploits at the club level in the French national team but that doesn’t take away from his immense talent as a target man who also loves to brings others into the play. Laca’s combination of pace, technique, link-up play and incredible work rate makes him a striker that’s always effective whether he scores a goal or not.

The Frenchman honed his skills and the unique playing styles in his hometown club of Lyon as he quickly rose to become one of Lyon’s best ever academy products and went on to become the club’s 3rd best goal scorer of all time. After winning a top goalscorer award and appearing 3 times in Ligue 1’s Team of the Season as well as winning the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award, Lacazette made the switch to the Premier League side, Arsenal, where he has won an FA Cup as of writing this article. Now with the introduction out of the way, let’s take an extensive look at Alexandre Lacazette lifestory and career in this

Alexandre Lacazette biography

.

Alexandre Lacazette Biography

In this brief Alexandre Lacazette bio, we take a closer look at how he became a prolific goalscorer, starting from his days at Lyon academy to the time he became the captain of the club and his eventual transfer to Arsenal and his time at the Premier League:

Alexandre Lacazette Information

So let’s start Alexandre Lacazette bio with general information about his physical attributes and his position on the pitch:

Alexandre Lacazette Bio

• Full Name: Alexandre Lacazette

• Nickname: Laca

• Profession: footballer

Alexandre Lacazette Physical Stats

• Height: 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)

• Eye Color: Brown

• Hair Color: Black

• Weight: 73 kg   

Alexandre Lacazette Football Information

• Positon: Striker

• Professional Debut: 2 May 2010

• Jersey Number: 9, 10

Alexandre Lacazette Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 28 May 1991

• Birth Place: Lyon, France

• Nationality: French

Alexandre Lacazette Early Life

Born in the city of Lyon in France during the nineties,

Alexandre Lacazette date of birth

is 28 May 1991. He was the youngest of four sons to a family of Guadeloupean origins (the same as Gunners legend, Thierry Henry).

His father Albert moved to France before even Alexandre was born. He grew up in a footballing family where most of

Alexandre Lacazette childhood

and his brothers were spent playing football. Eventually, Laca and one of his older brothers, Benoit, became professional footballers. Benoit would go on to play in the Swiss and French lower leagues before becoming a futsal manager at Lyon.

At the age of 7, after spending a year with the youth club FC Gerland, Alexandre joined and started playing for the local club, Elan Sportif, and would represent the club for 5 years before joining Lyon’s youth academy.

Alexandre Lacazette Profile

We will now take a look at Alexandre Lacazette’s career as a footballer in the different teams that he played throughout his career in this section of Alexandre Lacazette biography and starting with his time in the Lyon’s youth academy and reserve teams:

Football Career

First let’s take a look at Alexandre Lacazette’s club career as well as his time with the French national team:

Lyon

Alexandre Lacazette joined Lyon’s youth academy ranks in 2003 and would go on to be a part of the setup until 2009. During which he become one of the most prominent talents in France youth national teams, which we’ll talk more of later, and even before he made his debut for the club there were interests in him from abroad. Nonetheless, after playing quite a number of games for Lyon’s reserve team, Laca was called up to the first team by Lyon’s then-manager Claude Puel on 2 May 2010 and 3 days later would go on to make his full debut for the club against Auxerre.

Alexandre Lacazette was mainly used as a winger in his first seasons at the club, during which he reached 2 major tournament finals with France U17 and U19 teams. It was during this time that Remi Garde became the manager of Lyon and Lacazette's first season under him became his breakthrough season as he made 43 appearances for Lyon scoring 10 goals as a 20-year-old.

He also won the Coupe de France that season. however, the season after that was a letdown but Lacazette really came onto his own in Garde’s last season as manager. In the 2013-14 season, Laca finally change his position to a striker and started scoring more and more, finishing the season with 22 goals in 54 appearances in all competitions and being named in Ligue 1’s Team of the Season.

But this was only the beginning because the best was yet to come as Laca firmly established himself as one of the best French strikers in recent years by scoring 27 goals in Ligue 1, winning the top scorer award over the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani. He was named Ligue 1’s Best Player of the Season as well as being named in the Team of the Season once again, firmly establishing himself as a household name in Ligue 1.

Lacazette, who was by now

’s vice-captain as well, continued his great form and went on to have two excellent seasons at Lyon despite huge interest from outside. He finished the 2015-16 season with 23 goals in all competitions but his last season at Lyon in 2016-17 was to be one for the record books as he broke his record of most goals scored in a Ligue 1 season for Lyon by scoring 28 and eventually scored 37 in all competitions.

At the end of the 2016-17 season, one of his long-time admirers, Arsenal, finally convinced Laca to join them and he left his boyhood club after becoming its

3<sup>

rd

top goal scorer of all time

in a relatively short time by scoring 129 goals in 275 matches.

Arsenal

Prior to joining Arsenal, Lacazette had actually verbally agreed to join Atletico Madrid but due to Atletico being hit by a transfer ban that season, the move was off so Laca became an Arsenal player a few weeks later in a £46.5 million transfer that made him Arsenal’s record signing. He was given the number 9 and shortly after joined Arsenal on their pre-season tour in Australia.

Laca’s move to

came with a lot of expectation from Arsenal fans and English media and Lacazette in response hit the ground running, scoring within 100 seconds of his opening match in the Premier League against Leicester City. His good form continued but as would be the case with him during his 4 seasons at Arsenal, Laca hit a dry spell in mid-season and ended his first season at Arsenal with 17 goals in all competitions.

His second season at Arsenal proved to be his best, as he scored 19 goals overall to help Arsenal reach the Europa League final. However, Unai Emery’s Arsenal lost against Chelsea. Lacazette was named Arsenal’s Player of the Season. the 2019-20 season which followed was a forgettable one as Lacazette’s lack of form mirrored that of Arsenal and was worsened by the sacking of

as manager. However, the season was salvaged as Arsenal beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final to win their record 14th FA Cup title.

There were speculations of Lacazette leaving Arsenal in the summer of 2020 but he stayed at Arsenal and played an important role in Arsenal’s 2020-21 campaign, helping bring youngsters like Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe into the fold and scoring 17 goals, which brings us to today where Alexandre Lacazette is enjoying another pre-season with Arsenal amidst reports of him possibly departing the club during the 2021 summer transfer window.

International Career 

Although

Alexandre Lacazette nationality

is French, he and his family are of a Guadeloupian descent. Lacazette has appeared on every level for the French national team, making his debut for the U-16 side in 2007. A year later he and France reached the U-17 Euros final and lost to Spain but they would later remedy that loss in the 2010 U-19 Euros final where they pretty much faced the same Spain team and made a comeback in the final as Lacazette scored the winning goal in the 85th minute of a 2-1 victory. He would go on to feature in the 2011 U-20 World Cup and become the top scorer of the tournament as France achieved a 3rd spot finish.

His time at the senior level is an entirely different story though as the current

manager, Didier Deschampes, who has been in charge since 2012 has never favored the striker since his style doesn’t fit Deschampes tactics. He did however give Lacazette his debut on 5 June 2013 as a substitute against Uruguay and ever since Lacazette has been used sporadically, mostly as a substitute and never in a big tournament. Since his debut, Alexandre Lacazette has made 13 appearances for the French national team and has scored 3 goals, two of which were against Germany in a friendly that ended 2-2. 

Style of Play 

Having been formerly a winger, Alexandre Lacazette has good technique, dribbling and passing ability as well as having a considerable amount of pace. Despite his relatively small stature (1.75m) for a striker, Lacazette has a great hold-up play and can put other attackers into scoring situations. He did this perfectly when he was at Lyon by usually linking up with Nabil Fekir and it was one of the main reasons Arsenal has brought him to the Emirates.

His link-up play with Aubameyang, Pepe and Saka has led to many goals in the past year or so but that is not where his contributions end as he is also a hard-working player that has a tendency to win the ball upfront, which helps Arteta’s style of playing immensely. Lacazette has even been likened to Gunners’ legend Ian Wright by the late Gerard Houlier, in terms of the skill sets he possesses and the way he plays.

Reception

Alexandre Lacazette is considered to be one of the best strikers in Lyon history. He was able to become Lyon’s 3rd goal scorer of all time in a relatively short time (4 seasons as a striker). He has only 5 goals less than Serge Chiesa who is in the 2nd spot despite playing nearly half as much as him.

On a personal level, his time at Ligue 1 was much more successful than his days at Arsenal. There he was featured in Ligue 1 Team of the Season 3 times as well as winning a Player of the Year and top scorer award. He was also awarded the prestigious Onze de Bronze in the 2014-15 season.

He has also been lauded for his performances at Arsenal. Although he has been rightfully criticized as well for not being consistent enough in stringing those kinds of performances together. he was however named Arsenal Player of the Season in the 2018-19 season.

Goal Celebration

Since his days at Lyon, Alexandre Lacazaette has had many different and creative goal celebrations and because he scores so often he gets to do a lot of them. But his most famous celebrations are perhaps his knee slides, which remind a lot of Gooners of their legend Thierry Henry, and the more unique one he does where he dances while moving his fingers in front of his mouth.

He has told in an interview that his trademark celebration “was based on a bet with a friend of mine who really likes music that involves trumpets,” and that it was a “It was a joke between the two of us. That’s how it all started, it was all a bet. I’ve just kept doing it and I really like it. The first time was in a friendly: Lyon against Sporting Lisbon, I believe, and then I did it in the league at Nancy.”

Alexandre Lacazette Outside Football

Alexandre Lacazette is a private person that doesn’t share his life all that much in social media but from what we can gather, he thoroughly enjoys playing video games with friends. Apart from playing professional football and occasionally video games as well as spending time with his friends and family, there doesn’t seem to be much time left for anything else. It’s important to note that Laca is good friends with Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann and his friendship with fellow Arsenal player, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is well documented. 

Alexandre Lacazette Personal Life

Our Alexandre Lacazette biography wouldn’t be a complete without mentioning his personal life. So read on as we take a look at

Alexandre Lacazette life story

, relationships and philanthropy in this

Alexandre Lacazette bio

.

Family, Children and Relationships

For years, Alexandre Lacazette seemed to be dating Manon Mogavero, a beauty specialist that moved to London with him upon Lacazette joining Arsenal. But that seems to be not the case anymore as the Arsenal ace seems to be now dating a nightclub-worker by the name of Funda Gedik. There were speculations about him cheating on Mogavero but with him being so secretive about his personal life and English tabloid’s history of dishonesty, it’s not exactly certain if he did or not.

As far as his own family goes, like we mentioned before Alexandre is the youngest of 4 sons.

Alexandre Lacazette religion

is Christianity and he appears to be Catholic. And it’s important to emphasize how reserved and private he is in such matters, which understandably has made information about his personal life scarce.

Philanthropy

Alexandre Lacazette has been involved with a number of charity causes that the Arsenal Foundation has been involved in. these include the annual Arsenal Christmas charity, where players donate a week’s salary to various causes supported by the Arsenal Foundation, like Save the Children, as well as the Foundation’s efforts during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Legal Issues

Laca seems to live a quiet life away from controversies apart from a few incidents where Alexandre Lacazette were caught inhaling nitrous oxide, first at a party with a couple of his Arsenal teammates and then again during 2019-20 season’s lockdown period, both of which Arsenal have dealt “internally”.

Alexandre Lacazette Career Statistics

It’s time to review some statistics in this section of Alexandre Lacazette biography, both for the clubs he played at and the French national team:

Club

Alexandre Lacazette biography

isn’t complete without his general statistics in the clubs that he played, starting with his days at the Olympique Lyonnais or Lyon where he started as a teenager. He broke into the first squad first as a winger and then went on to become a full striker, scoring a total tally of 129 goals over 275 appearances for Lyon, becoming their 3rd best goal scorer of all time. His switch to become a full striker meant that 113 of his goals for Lyon had come in his last 4 seasons at the club, where he was also made captain.

Alexandre Lacazette then went on to join the Premier League side, Arsenal, at the start of 2017-18 season, becoming the Gunners’ record signing at the time (£47.5 million). Although he was never able to truly replicate his numbers from Lyon at Arsenal, he became an important part of the club and has scored 65 goals in 170 matches for Arsenal as of writing this article.

International

Having had 58 caps for France’s youth teams from U16 to U21s, Laca seemed destined to feature heavily for the senior side as well but unfortunately for him, France’s manager Didier Deschampes never truly believed in him. As a result, Alexandre Lacazette has only 13 caps to his name, most of which are from the bench. He has also scored 3 goals in those 13 matches.

Managerial

Alexandre Lacazette is still an active footballer and he is way off from his retirement days or any managerial job.

Alexandre Lacazette Honors

In the final section of Alexandre Lacazette biography, we take a brief look at his achievements, either team or individual achievements, in a career that up to now has been spent at only two clubs, Lyon and Arsenal:

Alexandre Lacazette started his career at the youth levels in 2003 when he joined Lyon at the age of 12 after being involved with a few local youth clubs. He then went on to feature heavily in both Lyon and France’s youth setup, instantly becoming one of the most coveted young talents in France. After helping France win the U19 Euros in 2010, Lacazette was given his Lyon debut and soon became a regular, helping the club win the Coupe de France in the 2011-12 season.

Most of Lacazette’s honors at Lyon came after he made the switch from winger to a striker which resulted in him constantly bagging 20+ goals season after season. his best season at the club was perhaps the 2014-15 season where he was Ligue 1’s best player by a landslide.

A further 2 seasons followed where Laca was still one of Ligue 1’s best players before he made the switch to join Arsenal. His move came with a lot of expectations but Arsenal’s lack of form in the four seasons Laca has been there and the overall turbulent atmosphere surrounding the club has prevented Lacazette from reaching his best. However, he has helped Arsenal reach a Europa League final and an FA Cup final, the latter of which the Gunners won.

On an individual level, apart from being Lyon’s 3rd top goal scorer of all time, in a significantly fewer number of games by the two players above him, having scored 129 goals in 275 matches. Lacazette’s best-ever season in 2014-15 saw him be awarded Ligue 1’s Player of the Season and the top scorer of the season as well as being named in the Team of the Season and winning the Onze de Bronze. He was named in the Team of the Season twice more as well as being named Arsenal’s Player of the Season in the 2018-19 season.

A Lyon boy through and through, Alexandre Lacazette went on to become one of Lyon’s best-ever players before venturing into the Premier League to become a fan-favorite among the Gooners as well. At 30, we imagine Laca has a few chapters to add to his career but for now, this was Sportmob’s version of

Alexandre Lacazette biography

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