Alexandre Lacazette has been “leaving” Lyon for what feels like about five years now, having been constantly linked to some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and other leagues around Europe since bursting onto the scene in 2013.
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This time, though, it’s really actually definitely happening without any level of uncertainty — so says Lacazette himself. Speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe this week, the 25-year-old said it’s “the right time” to “discover something else, and to play at a different level.” He went on to reveal he’s already spoken to Atletico Madrid, and Lacazette sounds as if he’s selling Atleti as much on his as they are themselves to him:“I think that’s the right time. I want to discover something else, and to play at a different level.”
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“I know very well that on a European scale I am not yet well recognized. I want to see if I can answer the questions that people are asking, and to make further progress.”
“Atletico are good, it is a club that is in the last rounds of the Champions League for several years.
“It is a great team, in a new stadium, and it is also a club that helps their players progress. And there is Antoine Griezmann. If Atletico is the club I chose, I have not told you, maybe I’ll give you another answer in a few months.”
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While no one will begrudge Lacazette this — who wouldn’t want to play with Griezmann? — the reality of a move to Atleti this summer might just be that he’s Griezmann’s replacement after his countryman makes a mega-bucks move to one of Europe’s true giants.
