His friends call him ‘Gwada’, a nickname that comes from his mother’s birthplace, Guadeloupe, the Caribbean island the young Alexandre Lacazette visited on holidays while growing up in Lyon, where he is the pride of the city. Lyon sit top of France’s Ligue 1, four points and three places above the billionaires of Paris Saint-Germain. They are the division’s leading scorers and Lacazette has 19 of their 43 goals.
Priceless asset
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas knows there are predatory superpowers in England and Spain monitoring the 23-year-old striker, but he told Le Parisien newspaper any bid for Lacazette would be rejected. “How much would he be worth in the transfer market?” Aulas asked. “He’s priceless. What’s the name of the Welshman at Real Madrid? Gareth Bale. Alexandre is better than him. But there’s no point naming prices. There would not be a positive response from here to him going anywhere.”
Double dynamite
Lacazette says he has matured and added composure to his football during the past 18 months. He is an industrious centre-forward, contributes to the team’s pressing, has speed and a cool temperament in one-on-one duels. He travels with Lyon to struggling Lens today on a superb run of form. He has scored two goals in each of his past four Ligue 1 fixtures. The entire Lens team have scored only one goal more than Lacazette in the league.
Bleu horizon
Lacazette, a star of Lyon’s youth academy, represented France at most age-group levels through his teenage years. But he developed a reputation principally as an impact substitute. He came off the bench to score the winning goals for France’s Under-19s in the final of the 2010 European Championship; he finished the 2011 Under-20 World Cup as the tournament’s joint-leading scorer, despite not being a regular starter.
International duty
Lacazette’s 15 goals in Ligue 1 last season made him a contender for the senior French World Cup squad for Brazil, but he missed the cut for the final 23. He made his first start for his country in November and is seen as a genuine challenger to Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema as France’s spearhead striker.