Arsenal

Francis Coquelin: 'Alexandre Lacazette will not struggle to adapt'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 18 July 2017

Francis Coquelin expects to see Alexandre Lacazette match his scoring success with Lyon at new club Arsenal, describing his new teammate as an "ice-cold" finisher.

Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin has insisted that new teammate Alexandre Lacazette will continue to find the net on a regular basis as he is a natural born goalscorer.

The 26-year-old made the move from Lyon earlier this month in a £52.7m deal, getting off the mark for the Gunners 15 minutes into his debut in the 2-0 win against Sydney FC.

Coquelin, who has previously spent time with Lacazette at Under-19s level with France, believes that the latter's natural instinct to strike will see him become a big hit in the Premier League, much like his time with Lyon when scoring 129 times in 275 appearances.

"When you are a goalscorer, you are a goalscorer," he told reporters. "Even at 17, he was always the same. In front of goal he's always ice-cold, he always scores a lot of goals. When we played with the national team, he finished top scorer when we played the Under-20s World Cup. His record for Lyon is incredible. He's scored so many goals over there. He scored 37 goals last season in 45 games, so I don't know why he cannot score for Arsenal.

"It is just whether he is going to put them away and I'm sure he will. He will probably get even more chances than he did at Lyon and it is down to him to score them but I'm pretty sure he has come here with his confidence high. In front of goal, he's someone who likes to score goals. He doesn't need many chances to put them away. I hope we will see that this season.

"The one that stands out is the final of the under-19s, he scored the winner and we won the Euros. I don't think he started that game, I think he came on. The Euros was our first big trophy, it was massive. It was a very talented group, there were a lot of players. We had Antoine Griezmann, we had Gael Kakuta who didn't have the carry we expected but was still a massive talent.

"It was pretty much all good players in this team. So I've known him for a long time. He's a goalscorer. He even showed it in our first game in pre-season. He only played 25 minutes, he needed only one chance to put it in. That's what we need and hopefully he can do that on many more occasions to come."

Lacazette recently revealed that he discussed a move to Arsenal with Coquelin prior to officially putting pen to paper on a five-year deal.