Alexandre Lacazette's departure from Arsenal and subsequent return to former club Lyon has been announced in the space of six days.
Last Friday (June 3) it was confirmed that five years after joining the north London outfit for a then club-record £46.5m fee, the Frenchman is to be released on a free transfer when his contract officially expires at the end of the month. "Alex Lacazette will be leaving us at the end of his current contract, which runs until June 30," a statement from the club read.
"Since joining us from Lyon in July 2017, Laca made 206 appearances in all competitions, scoring 71 goals. Laca was an FA Cup winner with us in 2020, was in our FA Community Shield winning team in 2017 and was voted the Arsenal Player of the Season for 2018/19. Thank you, Laca, we wish you all the best for the next chapter in your career."
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Less than a week later and the next chapter in Lacazette's career has been revealed with his return to Lyon being confirmed on Thursday morning making him the club's second signing of the summer so far with experienced goalkeeper Remy Riou also returning to the club.
Interestingly, during the Ligue 1 outfit's press release for the signing of the 31-year-old it's mentioned exactly how much Arsenal paid for him five summers ago. Now, the reported fee in July 2017 was £46.5m and the understanding, as per the BBC, was that it could rise to £52m if certain bonuses were met.
It was never disclosed what needed to be done for the clause to be activated, but it would appear that the Gunners did end up making the extra £5.5m payment as Lyon have included the bonuses to seemingly confirm how much they received from the Lacazette transfer in total.
"Olympique Lyonnais are very proud and very happy to announce the return to the club of Alexandre Lacazette, a product of the club's academy, for the next three seasons," a statement via their official website reads. "Out of contract at English club Arsenal, the French international has signed a three-year deal through June 30, 2025.
"Having transferred in July 2017 to Arsenal for the record sum of €60M (including bonuses), Alexandre Lacazette, at 31, has made the choice to return to the club which has seen him grow and become one of the greatest strikers in its history, despite offers from many major European clubs in recent weeks."
If this is the case and the total package to sign Lacazette did end up costing Arsenal £52m, to let him leave for free is certainly a lesson manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu must learn from as amid interest from Atletico Madrid a couple of summers ago, money could have been generated from the Frenchman's sale which in turn could have funded one or two deals to improve the options in attack.
Instead, the club are now facing a crucial summer where not only does Lacazette need to be replaced, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang too following his departure in the January transfer window with the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Tammy Abraham and Gianluca Scamacca amongst the names linked.
