Arsenal icon Thierry Henry has proclaimed himself to be a “big fan” of his former club's record signing Alexandre Lacazette.
Former Lyon striker Lacazette arrived at Arsenal earlier this summer in a deal that could eventually be worth £53million and has looked largely impressive in pre-season, scoring twice.
But the true test lies ahead for Lacazette, who will be tasked with providing the goals to at the very least fire Arsenal back into the Champions League, if not establish the club as a title contender.
The expectations on Lacazette are all the greater due to Arsenal’s rich history of French strikers, with Henry the club’s all-time with 228 goals in 377 games, but the 39-year-old expects great things from his successor.
“I'm a big fan of him,” Henry told Sky Sports. “I saw him playing for a long time in the French league and in the youth team. He was always a talent that everyone was waiting for him to grow into, and to be fair he did, he's been scoring goals every season.”
Lacazette’s arrival led to renewed speculation over Olivier Giroud’s future, with the 30-year-old set to start the season as second-choice centre-forward behind his compatriot.
However Henry believes the likes of Giroud and his fellow stable of strikers will still have a role to play as Arsenal battle for silverware at home and in Europe.
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“[Lacazette] has a different game to Giroud, which I think is good because you need different types of strikers,” Henry added.
“He did it in the French league and people might say it's a different league but, with due respect to Lyon, he'll also be with better players. I'm backing him to have a good season.
“But rotation will be key. Sometimes you'll need Giroud or even [Alexis] Sanchez in the middle and sometimes you'll need [Danny] Welbeck or [Theo] Walcott, whoever will have an impact.”
