"The transfer of Alexandre Lacazette to Arsenal could be done in one or two days," the words of Lyon president, Jean Michel Aulas to local newspaper, Le Progres, and bringing the end of a transfer saga that seems to have been ongoing for several years.
When Karim Benzema moved from Lyon to Real Madrid in 2009, the Gunners were heavily linked with the impressive youngster, the Spanish side won, but that hasn’t stopped the club being mentioned with the striker every summer since.
It was during the 2013/14 campaign when Lacazette transitioned into a centre-forward, and almost instantly the rumours suggesting Arsène Wenger was a fan began to circulate and the youngster became flavour of the month at the Emirates.
Now, after a decade of scouting, Arsenal have landed their man.
"The first time that Gilles Grimandi, the former Arsenal player and French scout, went to see Alexandre Lacazette on behalf of Arsene Wenger and Arsenal was 10 years ago when Lacazette was 16,” French football journalist, Julien Laurens told BBC 5 Live this week.
"For those 10 years’ they've looked at him so many times, year after year, not always convinced. Sometimes it was a yes, sometimes it was a 'we're not sure' let's wait a little bit more.
"This summer, finally, Wenger is convinced that this is the right time for him to come to Arsenal.
"He's matured enough, he's improved enough, his all-round game improved massively last season."
It’s very rare that Europe’s best young talent stay at their home-town club for so long, which has worried many Arsenal fans. Wondering why no one had moved to sign the 26-year-old sooner, but Lacazette should be praised for his behaviour.
He has been a part of the club since 2003, and even after Aulas questioned his loyalty for not signing a new deal quick enough in 2015, he obviously wanted to stay and give back to the team that had given him so much.
Once the new Parc OL stadium was close to completion, Lacazette wanted to stay and bring Champions League football to the new ground for the fans, which he succeeded in doing. His last mission was more of a personal journey, scoring his 100th Ligue 1 goal for Lyon. It took him until the final game of last season, but with 12 minutes to go, at home to Nice, he delivered.
Receiving the ball from Corentin Tolisso, with his first touch he moved the ball out from under his feet, then with his second he delivered a cool dinked chip over Yoan Cardinale to put his team 3-2 up.
Loyal until the very end, a rare commodity in the modern game, and as Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil debate their future at the Emirates, it’s a quality that the Arsenal fans should enjoy in their new signing.
Since moving from the right flank to become a central striker, Lacazette has developed so much that he boasts an all-round package.
Able to come short and play as the target-man, he has the touch and vision to play quick one-twos, roll off the shoulder of the last defender and ghost towards goal.
Quick across the ground, he will also drift wide, then he can either time his back-post run to perfection, or receive the ball deep to cut in past the opposition and apply a deadly finish.
Over the past three seasons, he’s played as a No.9 in a three-man attack, then developed a wonderful understanding with Nabil Fekir in Hubert Fournier’s 4-4-2 diamond and looked unstoppable in a two-man partnership.
When Bruno Genesio arrived in January 2016, it was back to 4-3-3, and after a period of adjustment, Lacazette was the lynchpin again, orchestrating play, bringing the wingers into the game. He had matured again and looked every part the leader.
Although Lyon struggled in Ligue 1 last season, the French forward took his game to another level, scoring 28 goals in 30 league games. Many baulk at those numbers, because of his 10 penalties, yet, this is not a one-season-wonder. Since moving into the attack in 2013 his record in 91 goals in 133 league appearances. Before last term he only scored 10 penalties in three years. Simply put, Lacazette is a pure goal-scorer.
Since Wenger moved to the 3-4-3 system last season, the 26-year-old is the perfect foil regardless of who stays at the Emirates.
With Sanchez , the Chilean forward can play off the left flank, using Lacazette’s movement and link-play to cause even more havoc on Premier League defences. Arsenal’s new record signing will drift off to either flank, dragging defenders with him and creating space for Sanchez to exploit.
He gives Özil what he has been craving, a forward with the intelligence, speed and movement that he can pick out with his incredible vision. Olivier Giroud, linked with a move away from North London, is a great target-man, but he doesn’t offer the same type of runs that Lacazette does and is far too stationary for someone like the German playmaker to benefit fully from.
Even if the fellow Frenchman does stay, there is an opportunity to pair the duo together. Giroud holds the ball up as well as anyone in the Premier League and with Lacazette playing off the former Montpellier man, you give him the same options as Antoine Griezmann gives in Didier Deschamps French side.
Arsenal have added the type of striker they have been looking at for several years. He is exactly the profile of forward needed to improve their squad and either join up, or help replace the talents of Alexis Sanchez.
The last piece of the puzzle will be down to how Lacazette settles to life in the English capital. This is a kid who grew up just four kilometres from the old Stade Gerland, Lyon has been his whole life up to this point.
Breaking Arsenal’s transfer record, the pressure is on from the start, but as with the rest of his career, the 26-year-old has faced every challenge head on, no one is expecting him to start failing now.