‘A little bit unorthodox’ - Meet Cloe Lacasse, Arsenal’s summer signing set to surprise the Women’s Super League

After a strong college career at the University of Iowa, Lacasse started her senior career in Iceland, a popular route for North American players to take and one that can often prove a springboard to a bigger European league.

She won two major trophies and a number of individual awards during five years with IBV, scoring 54 goals in 79 league games. It was form that got her spotted by her now-agent, who is Portuguese. From there, an opportunity would arise with Benfica, a club that had only played one season at that point but had just won promotion to the top flight and had a very exciting project.

“It was an opportunity I couldn't really say no to,” Lacasse told GOAL. “I'm just very ambitious. I knew that this was going to be a very positive step for my career, coming from Iceland. Iceland still has very talented players, but it's a smaller country with less visibility.

“I knew coming [to Portugal] would give me the exposure that I was looking for to take even further steps and hopefully, next getting invited to a camp for Canada. Now, I believe that I do have that visibility and that exposure and I've proven myself to get that opportunity.” She wasn’t wrong…

With her hard-working and energetic style, one complemented by flair and a desire to drive at goal, it would not take long for Lacasse to endear herself to the Benfica faithful. She scored 23 goals in 15 games in her first season with the club to win the Golden Boot and fire Benfica into the Champions League.

That wouldn’t prove to be a flash in the pan, either. Lacasse showed real consistency throughout her spell in Lisbon to score 102 goals in 131 games in all competitions, including 12 in 24 in Europe - quite the return for a team not at all established among the elite yet.

Over time, she’d become a bigger character in the dressing room, too, even wearing the captain’s armband for the club.

Just as Lacasse had hoped, her performances for Benfica would catch the attention of Canada head coach Bev Priestman, and she was called into a senior camp for the first time back in April 2021.

During her time with IBV, there were suggestions that the forward could declare for Iceland, but she has described that as a “misconception” around her desire to obtain Icelandic citizenship. Lacasse has, however, admitted that there were “mental struggles” that came with the long wait for a call from Canada.

“I definitely thought about [Iceland] because every professional football player aspires to be on that international stage. Right? It's definitely something I had to think about,” she said but, in discussing her call-up for Canada, she added: “Patience is virtue.”

That patience finally paid off two years ago. Lacasse wouldn’t make her debut during her first camp, but it would come before the year was out, at 28 years old, in a friendly against Mexico in November. She was even named Player of the Match.

In the time since, she’s continued to grow into the national team environment - named to the CONCACAF Women’s Championship squad last summer, bagging her first goal in October of last year and making the provisional roster for this year’s Women’s World Cup.

Playing Champions League football, winning international call-ups, it was all creating an even bigger buzz around Lacasse - one that was now expanding across Europe. In the group stages of the 2022-23 Champions League, a competition that is now extremely visible, only two players had more touches in the opposition box than the Canada forward. Those were Geyse of Barcelona and Ewa Pajor of Wolfsburg, players representing the two eventual finalists. In fact, only Pajor bettered Lacasse's return of five goals in the group stage.

It’s no wonder that the rumours started to swirl around Lacasse and, in January, Arsenal came calling. The Gunners were suddenly depleted in the forward areas after ACL injuries to Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema and the 29-year-old was identified as a top target to bolster the attack.

It would prove difficult to strike a deal with Benfica in the winter window but, as Lacasse would say, patience is a virtue. They’ve finally got their target now.

Despite having international caps and Champions League football under her belt, Lacasse will arrive in England as a player not many know too much about. The Canada forward brings a lot of energy both with and without possession, the latter of which will suit the desire of head coach Jonas Eidevall to have his team press high.

In terms of her skillset, Lacasse is excellent at driving forward with the ball, she’s confident in one-v-one situations, adding a bit of flair influenced by her time at Benfica, and she has the intelligence in her movement to pop up in the right place at the right time to score goals. She has an ability to produce spectacular finishes, too.

“Playing out in Portugal with a lot of Brazilian players, it's a little bit more of a liberal way of playing, right?” Lacasse explained. “I like to think that I'm an extremely dynamic player as far as going forward, but I'm also somebody who's going to work their ass off to defend, which is also a little bit different for an attacker.”

After several years playing in a league with a very different style, she’ll bring something to Arsenal that they don't have, something that can benefit the team and surprise a lot of defenders in the WSL.

January was a difficult window for Arsenal. They went after a number of different targets to try and cover for the injuries to Mead and Miedema, but ultimately failed to reinforce the frontline in the way they’d have hoped.

The summer, though, seems to be going a lot better. Lacasse’s arrival adds necessary depth, something a little bit different and real hunger and ambition. When you have had the journey she has, and you’ve waited until you are 29 years old for a chance to play on a stage like she’ll get at Arsenal, you are not going to waste it.

With her ability to score goals, Lacasse will certainly help in relieving a bit of the pressure on Stina Blackstenius, but also on Mead and Miedema as they are eased back into the fold.

So, after the arrival of defender Amanda Ilestedt earlier this week, this is one January target that Arsenal have finally brought in. With Alessia Russo looking likely to follow her through the door soon, it’s a good start to the window…