LONDON: Had the close season panned out as initially expected, Alexandre Lacazette and Alvaro Morata would not be lining up for Arsenal and Chelsea in Sunday’s Community Shield at Wembley.
After 14 years at Lyon, Lacazette decided it was time to move on and was reported to have agreed to join up with his France team-mate Antoine Griezmann at Atletico Madrid.
However, Atletico then had a transfer ban upheld over the signing of foreign minors and with the Madrid club barred from registering new players until January 2018, Arsenal stepped in.
Arsenal’s fans have been crying out for a top-rank striker ever since Robin van Persie was sold to Manchester United in 2012 and in Lacazette their wish appears to have been granted.
A dead-eyed finisher, the 26-year-old was the top-scoring Frenchman in each of the last three Ligue 1 seasons and left Lyon having scored 113 goals in his last four campaigns.
He cost Arsenal an initial fee of £46.5 million (US$60.6 million), making him both Arsenal’s biggest ever signing and Lyon’s biggest ever sale.
Lacazette will form a potentially devastating attacking trident with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, but manager Arsene Wenger has warned that he will need time to find his feet in north London.
Morata’s move to England was no surprise, but the Spain international had been earmarked for a move to Manchester United.
Instead, United hijacked Chelsea’s attempt to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge and the champions switched their attentions to Morata.
The 24-year-old cost Chelsea £58 million and is due to take the place of Diego Costa, who – completing the love triangle – is at loggerheads with the club over his desire to return to Atletico.
Morata has scored in a Champions League final, netting for Juventus in their 2015 loss to Barcelona, but arrives after a frustrating season as a back-up player at Real Madrid.
Sunday’s game, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season, is a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final.
Having streaked to the title, Blues manager Antonio Conte was seeking to emulate his compatriot Carlo Ancelotti by winning a league and FA Cup Double in his first maiden Chelsea season.
But Arsenal blew Chelsea away with a sensational display, Aaron Ramsey’s 79th-minute winner securing a 2-1 win that brought the beleaguered Wenger a record seventh success in the competition. — AFP