Arsenal new-boy Alexandre Lacazette may take all season to adjust to the Premier League, claims Robert Pires
Gunners legend claims it took him a good six or seven months to get up to speed with the intensity of the English top flight
ARSENAL new-boy Alexandre Lacazette may take all season to adjust to the Premier League, claims Robert Pires.
Gunners legend claimed it took him a good six or seven months to get up to speed with the intensity of the English top flight and fears it could be the same for the forward.
Lacazette, 26, netted 28 times in Ligue 1 last season - and scored on his Arsenal debut following his £52million switch from Lyon in a pre-season game against Sydney FC.
But Pires insists it may not be so easy when he lands in England, as he found it tough after leaving Marseille for Highbury in 2000.
He said: "I think he'll be a success. But maybe he will need time to adapt.
"He is a good striker who has scored a lot of goals with Lyon.
"Of course it will be very difficult in the beginning because when you play in France and move to England it is not the same, it is very aggressive.
"Maybe he will need time for the adaptation but everyone around him is very important, especially the French connection.
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"But to make the adaptation, to find the rhythm and the tempo, for me it took six or seven months.
"It was very tough, for me it was the aggression and intensity."
Lacazette gets his next chance for Arsenal when Arsene Wenger's men take on Chelsea in a pre-season friendly in China.