Thierry Henry: I’ve always liked Lacazette as a No.9, competition for France is massive

Thierry Henry has hailed the goalscoring ability of Alexandre Lacazette, who has scored 38 times in 97 Arsenal matches, but who is currently out of the France international picture.

Lacazette has played 16 times for Les Bleus but has not featured since netting a double against Germany in a friendly in November 2017. World Cup-winning coach Didier Deschamps has preferred to look elsewhere for centre-forward options, with ex-Arsenal front man Olivier Giroud still in possession of the shirt despite a fierce battle for places.

Wissam Ben Yedder of Monaco would appear to be currently ahead of Lacazette in the French pecking order, with the Arsenal man having suffered the effects of an ankle injury this Premier League season. Borussia Monchengladbach’s Alassane Plea has also caught the eye, having been called up for the previous round of matches.

The World Cup holders face Moldova and Albania in Euro 2020 qualification this week with a host of attacking talent in the ranks, including Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.

“Didier knows what he’s doing,” Henry tells Goal . “Didier’s the boss of the national team so I don’t know why he (Lacazette) hasn’t been called.

“All I can tell you is what I see, like I’ve been doing for a little while, for Lyon and Arsenal. He’s a goalscorer but competition is massive in France to play up front.

“Giroud is doing extremely well, Griezmann can also play there. Plea is also doing well for Monchengladbach. Ben Yedder is doing well for Monaco and when he went to Sevilla.

“That’s the stuff that’s very difficult for me to talk about because you have to respect the decision of the coach.

“I always liked Lacazette as a No. 9 but the most important thing is that Didier likes him.”

Heineken

Lacazette’s Arsenal team-mate Matteo Guendouzi, meanwhile, earned a first senior call-up for the international fixtures in September and has been given another chance to represent his country after being called up to replace the injured Blaise Matuidi.

France have an abundance of talent in the midfield area, not least when Paul Pogba joins N’Golo Kante in recovering from injury.

“I saw him (Guendouzi) also at the Under-21 European Championship where he played on and off,” Henry says of the 20-year-old.

“He’s been doing well with Arsenal. Is he going to make the Euro or not? I don’t know. The competition is massive in midfield. But it’s a great experience for him to be able to go and play some games, just being in and around the team.

“That’s the type of problem that Didier Deschamps is going to have. But in all fairness they are nice problems to have.”

Henry, who won a World Cup alongside Deschamps as a player, says his ex-team-mate is “made to win” and praised him as an asset for the young players in particular in the French setup.

“He has done it all,” Henry says. “The first French captain to win the Champions League, with Marseille. The first captain to lift the World Cup. The second one to lift the Euro because Platini lifted it in '84.

“He was a tremendous player, a tremendous captain, so he knows exactly what it takes to win a final. Unfortunately for us at the time, we lost in 2016, but we won in 2018.

“Wherever he went, with Monaco he went to the final of the Champions League, he won the league with Marseille the last time they won it. The guy is just made to win stuff.

“He’s an amazing asset for the youngsters right now. He’s been to a lot of finals, been there at the start of a French side that was winning again after the generation of [Michel] Platini, [Jean] Tigana, [Alain] Giresse and so on. So, he knows what it is all about.”

HEINEKEN has announced it will become ‘Official Beer Partner of UEFA EURO 2020™’, and in a separate agreement has extended its UEFA Champions League partnership by another three years, from 2021-24. The new UEFA EURO 2020™ agreement means that Heineken® will be a partner of Europe’s most prestigious club and international football tournaments. Heineken®’s global ambassador Thierry Henry has previously won both the EURO Championships with France in 2000 and the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona in the 2008/09 season.