Childhood & Early Life
Alexandre Lacazette was born on May 28, 1991, in Lyon, France, as the youngest child among four boys in a Guadeloupean family.
He joined the local club ‘Elan Sportif’ in 1998, and began playing football at age seven.
Benoît, one of his elder brothers, played in the Swiss second division, the French fourth division, and has also coached ‘Lyon Footzik Futsal.’ French footballer Romuald Lacazette, who at present plays for German football club ‘Darmstadt 98,’ is his cousin.
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Career
Lacazette became part of youth academy of ‘Lyon’ in 2003. He received training at the training center and club headquarters - ‘Centre Tola Vologe.’ He played through the youth setup of the club.
He made his first team debut on May 5, 2010, in a ‘Ligue 1’ home match against ‘Auxerre.’ On July 3 that year, he signed a three-year deal with Lyon, marking his first professional contract. However, as he was still bound with his youth contract for another year, the professional contract started only from July 1, 2011.
He scored his first competitive goal for the first team of the club against ‘Sochaux’ on October 30, 2010, in a ‘Ligue 1’ home match that resulted in a 2-1 victory for ‘Lyon.’
His made his European club debut in November 2010, in a 2010–11 ‘UEFA Champions League’ Group B away match against the Portuguese club ‘Benfica,’ but his team lost the match by 4-3. He netted his career’s first European club competition goal on December 7 that year against Israeli club ‘Hapoel Tel Aviv’ in the last Group B match of ‘Lyon’ that ended in a 2-2 draw.
He helped his team, ‘Lyon,’ win the 2011–12 ‘Coupe de France’ and the 2012 ‘Trophée des champions.’
He was enlisted in the ‘UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year’ in 2013–14, a feat he again achieved in 2014–15 and 2016–17 seasons.
The club retained him till 2018 by signing with him a two-year extension to his existing contract in September 2014. His first hat-trick came on October 5, 2014, as ‘Lyon’ coasted to a 3–0 Ligue 1 home victory against ‘Lille.’ He was awarded the ‘UNFP Player of the Month’ trophy in December 2014; he won the trophy again in January 2015 and August 2016.
He set a new record for ‘Lyon’ scoring maximum ‘Ligue 1’ or ‘Division 1’ goals in a single season for the club after netting his 26th goal in a ‘Ligue 1’ match on April 26, 2015, that his club won by a 4-2 margin against ‘Reims.’ The previous Lyon record was held by André Guy, who had scored 25 ‘Division 1’ goals in the 1968–69 season.
He scored 27 goals in the 2014–15 ‘Ligue 1’ season and emerged as Ligue 1 ‘Top Goal Scorer’ of the season. He was also voted as ‘UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year’ that season.
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He signed a fresh deal with ‘Lyon’ on August 8, 2015, that retained him with the club till 2019.
His 100th goal for Lyon came in the club’s 2–1 away victory against ‘Toulouse’ in Ligue 1 on October 29, 2016.
He moved to ‘Arsenal’ by signing a reported five-year deal on July 5, 2017. His transfer fee, an initial amount of €53 million in addition of up to €7 million in latent bonuses, is considered the largest one ever received by ‘Lyon.’
He made his debut with ‘Arsenal’ on August 6, 2017, against ‘Chelsea’ in the 2017 ‘FA Community Shield.’ ‘Arsenal’ beat ‘Chelsea’ by 4–1 via penalty shootout to win the trophy.
He made his ‘Premier League’ debut on August 11, 2017, against ‘Leicester City’ and ‘Arsenal’ won by a margin of 4-3.
He continued his outstanding form in the next two games, including a goal against ‘Bournemouth’ and a brace against ‘West Bromwich Albion.’ With this, he equalled Brian Marwood’s record of (made in September 1988) scoring in all the first three home league appearances for ‘Arsenal.’
He made his youth international debut on April 3, 2007 when he represented France in the national under-16 football team in its 2–0 win against Cameroon in a match at the ‘Montaigu Tournament.’ Moving on, he played in all the national youth teams of France.
On May 4, 2008, during a group stage match of that year’s ‘UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship,’ Lacazette netted the second goal for France in its 2–1 win over the Republic of Ireland. The France U17 team, however, lost to Spain by 4-0 in the final match held on May 16, 2008.
France went on to win its second ‘UEFA European Under-19 Championship’ title on July 30, 2010, beating Spain by a margin of 2-1. Lacazette scored the match-winning goal in the 85th minute.
The 2010 ‘UEFA European Under-19 Championship’ win helped France to qualify for the 2011 ‘FIFA U-20 World Cup’ and Lacazette’s was selected in the 21-man French squad for the 2011 ‘FIFA U-20 World Cup.’
Although France ended up at the fourth position in the 2011 ‘FIFA U-20 World Cup,’ Lacazette was one of the tournament’s top scorers along with Álvaro Vázquez and Henrique Almeida, scoring 5 goals each. He was also awarded the ‘Bronze Shoe.’
He made his senior international debut with the national football team of France at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo on June 5, 2013, in a friendly against Uruguay.
His first international goal came on March 29, 2015, in a friendly against Denmark where France won by a 2-0 margin.
