Alexandre Lacazette has revealed his decision to swap Arsenal for Lyon, despite a previous declaration that he wanted to play for a team in the Champions League.
The Frenchman has left Arsenal after scoring 71 goals in 206 games across all competitions during a five-year stint at the Emirates Stadium.
Discussing his future in April, the striker said: ‘I want to play in Europe, it’s been a long time since I played in the Champions League, I’m missing it.’
But with his Arsenal contract expiring at the end of June, Lacazette has now re-joined former team Lyon on a three-year deal.
Even though the Ligue 1 club finished outside of the European qualification places last campaign, the 31-year-old said his call to return to the French club was the ‘best decision’.
‘Thank you for the welcome and the love shown in recent months,’ said Lacazette at his unveiling, via RMC Sport.
‘My return has become obvious in recent weeks. Even without Europe, the project is important. I felt useful in the locker room and on the pitch. It was the best decision to make.
‘I took some time to make my decision. Football is a beautiful profession. It was complicated to follow OL’s last season from a distance because I couldn’t help. I hope this period is over and that we are going to find a great Lyon.
‘The priority is above all to help the club return to the top of the bill with European qualification.’
Lacazette’s departure from Arsenal has left Mikel Arteta needing to add a striker to his team in the summer transfer window.
The Gunners won’t be able to offer any new signings the benefit of Champions League football after they lost out to Tottenham in the top-four race, but they qualified for the Europa League.
Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus is one of the players to have been strongly linked with a transfer move to the Emirates Stadium.
