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Of all the Arsenal stars to have a mate who’s played in the A-League, it had to be club-record signing Alexandre Lacazette.
The French striker, recruited last week from Lyon for PS46.5million ($A79 million), has revealed he learnt a little about Australia’s domestic competition through former Melbourne City winger Harry Novillo.
The pair spent a decade together at Lyon, developing through the League 1 side’s youth system and forging a strong attacking partnership before graduating to the senior ranks.
Both were called up to the first team for the 2010 Emirates Cup and combined to score against Celtic.
Lacazette developed into one of the premier strikers in Ligue 1, with over 100 goals from 203 appearances.
Novillo, on the other hand, made only a handful of appearances in the French top flight and tried his luck elsewhere in Europe before being snapped up by City for the 2015-16 season, during which he both shone and courted controversy.
“I don’t know the A-League too well, but I have a friend who played for Melbourne and he told me it’s a really good league,” Lacazette said after launching Arsenal’s third kit at Sydney Harbour.
The 26-year-old will make his Gunners debut against Sydney FC at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night, and predicted enough goals to warrant the club’s hefty outlay.
“I hope to score goals, this is why the club got me,” he said.
“But I also want to become an integrated part of the team.”
Mesut Ozil has only started training with Lacazette this week but the German playmaker, the subject of intense transfer speculation, backed his new teammate to deliver the goods.
“We all know about his quality, so we know what to expect,” Ozil said.
“We’re really looking forward to playing with him and seeing him score.
“He will definitely enrich my game as well. My job is to play decisive passes so he can score as many goals as possible.
“He showed in Lyon how many goals he can score and I’m positive this will also be the case with Arsenal.”
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