Alexandre Lacazette joins Arsenal for club record £46.5m from Lyon
Alexandre Lacazette scored 100 goals in 203 appearances for Lyon |
Arsenal have completed the
signing of France striker Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon for a club
record £46.5m fee on a five-year deal.
The fee - up to £52.6m with add-ons - will surpass the £42.4m Arsenal paid Real Madrid for Mesut Ozil in 2013.
"Arsenal are the club that plays the best football in England so I really wanted to come here," said Lacazette.
The 26-year-old is expected to travel with the squad this weekend for two friendly matches in Sydney next week.
Those games will be followed by a match against Bayern Munich in Shanghai the following week.
The
player added: "Throughout my childhood and thanks to Arsenal's former
striker Thierry Henry and other French players, I always dreamed of
playing for this club so that dream has been fulfilled.
"I like
clubs with a history and the fact that the manager has been here for a
while shows that it is a stable club. There are quite a few French
players at the club which will make it easy to settle in."
Lacazette,
who has won 11 caps for France, was the second-highest scorer in Ligue 1
last season with 28 goals. He netted 129 goals in 275 matches in all
competitions for Lyon after breaking into the first team in the 2009-10
campaign.
His league tally last season was bettered by only Paris St-Germain's Edinson Cavani, with 35.
Manager
Arsene Wenger said: "We are very happy to have Alexandre join our
group. He has shown over a number of years that he can score goals and
that he is a very efficient finisher.
"He has very interesting
technical qualities and a strong character. So he is a guy who is a
great addition for us, and someone who will help us challenge at the top
level this season."
Lacazette has been linked with several top clubs and looked set to join Atletico Madrid before their transfer ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Last week Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis promised fans "top-quality" summer signings during a question-and-answer session.
Left-back Sead Kolasinac, who joined from Schalke, is Arsenal's other recruit since the end of last season.
BBC
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