Lyon manager Bruno Genesio has admitted that Alexandre Lacazette is irreplaceable.

Arsenal signed Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon for £52m in July, which was a record transfer for both clubs. He scored 129 goals in 275 appearances for Lyon, and Genesio is facing the problem of replacing such a prolific and talismanic striker.

“We can’t replace Alex. We’ve bought Mariano [Diaz], who has different qualities, and we have young players with different qualities too,” Genesio said, reports Daily Nation. “We’re going to have to compensate collectively for his departure.”

Lacazette scored 28 goals in Ligue 1 last season, while Mariano Diaz, Lyon’s new signing from Real Madrid, has only one prolific season to his name in the Spanish lower divisions.

The French international shot to prominence in the last three years after his goalscoring exploded and was constantly linked with a move to Arsenal.

What started out as a £30m transfer increased with every prolific season until it reached the £52m Arsenal eventually paid.

It’s an amazing amount of money for a player that came from their youth academy. Unfortunately, players of his quality don’t come along often and Lyon don’t have another Lacazette lying about to step up.

Arsenal fans will hope he goes on to be just as prolific in red and white and live up to the big reputation he had in France.