‘Lacazette Can Be Arsenal’s Ibrahimovic’- Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger has challenged Alexandre Lacazette to follow Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s example.
Wenger is ready to hand his club-record £52million striker his Premier League debut on Friday, when they open the season at home to Leicester City.

Lacazette scored 119 goals in 249 appearances for Lyon back home in France.

Ibrahimovic ended doubts about whether he could score as freely in England as he had done in France at Manchester United last season, scoring 28 goals in 46 appearances after joining from Paris Saint-Germain.

Wenger said: “With Lacazette, it’s simple. He is an intelligent player. We have a game backed on mobility and technique and I think he can integrate that well.

“After that, we get the efficiency. His record in France is to score one in 80 minutes. If he can maintain that record that would be ideal for us. As a game is in 90 that would guarantee you a goal.
“Goal-scoring record is not necessarily transferable from the French League to the English league, that’s for sure.
“But you could say that Ibrahimovic transferred an identical amount of goals from France to England. So that’s the target Lacazette should set.”

Wenger also admitted having doubts over whether he could ever tempt Lacazette to leave France.

“I know him for a long time. In France, you have Paris that produces maybe 60 or 70% of players. With the suburbs they go south and west.

“After Paris, you have Lyon, which is a special place in France as they have their own mentality. They don’t like to move away, usually.

“They produce their own players, the players who grew up around Lyon, like Fekir, Lacazette, Gonalons. They all stay in Lyon. They usually like to stay there. They are players with a special mentality and I did not know whether they wanted to move or not.

“Does he want to go abroad or not? It is a very specific French players at Lyon,” he said.