It took 24 hours but the English media are finally putting unnecessary pressure on Arsenal’s new signing Alexandre Lacazette.

The Daily Star have quotes from Gabriele Marcotti who says Lacazette has to prove he’s better than Arsenal teammate Olivier Giroud to explain the pricey outlay made by the club.

Given Giroud starts for the French national team over Lacazette, Marcotti has questioned why Arsenal have signed someone believed to be inferior to what they already have for such a high sum.

“If you’re an Arsenal fan most likely you wanted the club to spend money. This deal would smash their transfer record, nearly £10m more than they paid for Mesut Ozil. It does put a big question mark over Olivier Giroud and frankly to what degree Lacazette is better than Giroud,” he said to ESPN.

“Certainly Didier Deschamps the France manager doesn’t seem to think so. You assume that he fits what Wenger wants to do better.”

The Evening Standard question if Lacazette can replace the gap left by Robin van Persie, while suggesting the Gunners may have paid over the odds for the centre-forward given how he was worth less than £30m a year ago.

“It is that attitude of cautious, mid-level buys that has left Arsenal with a bloated squad on significant wages who are proving difficult to shift,” said James Benge.

“The question then is whether Wenger is doing the same with Lacazette. Is the Frenchman the easy, relatively inexpensive option that Arsenal can be sure they can get?”

As is the case with Arsenal, the media are cynical on their movements in the transfer market. They seem to be harsher on the Gunners than other side, perhaps due to the Londoners being a giant club without the domestic and European success in recent years.

But Lacazette will take time to settle in the Premier League and with his new teammates, having been a one-club man prior to the switch. So here’s hoping the media can get off his back and give him a chance.