While Arsene Wenger has suggested that Alexandre Lacazette is suffering from low confidence, one suspects Lacazette is really a victim of Arsenal’s scattergun transfer strategy. As much as fans welcomed the arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this January, it looked like an admission from the club hierarchy that they had recruited the wrong striker last summer. “Maybe the confidence is not at its highest because he has seen a competitor coming in for him,” Wenger said in the aftermath of Lacazette’s nightmare in the north London derby, with the 26-year-old brought on in the 65th minute only to miss two crucial chances to salvage a draw at Wembley.

“His confidence is not the highest.” That’s one way of putting it. It’s more likely Lacazette has realised that his Arsenal career is in danger of coming to a premature end.

When Arsenal were first seriously linked with a move for Lacazette back in the summer of 2016, it felt like an exciting prospective signing. Having scored 76 goals for Lyon in all competitions over the previous three seasons, he seemed to be the sort of striker that supporters had long been calling for and, at the time, the sort of reinforcement the squad needed. While history will judge Olivier Giroud more kindly than the present, the former Montpellier man had never been able to offer the pace and offside-trap-busting movement which Arsenal fans have traditionally looked for in a front man.

READ MORE: Arrival of Aubameyang ‘has shattered Lacazette’

Lacazette appeared to be an antidote to Giroud’s cumbersome hustle-and-bustle up front, a sleeker and more compact striker who could complement his French compatriot and add goals to what was then still a competent team.

Mistimed signing

One could argue that Arsenal signed Lacazette a season too late, this after a 2016/17 campaign in which they had finished fifth and already begun their slide towards mediocrity. Rather than seek to redress the imbalance at the base of their midfield or the decline of their senior centre-backs, the club went for the striker they had reportedly bid for – unsuccessfully – the year before. Lacazette had scored another 37 goals in the meantime, which suggested that he could still be the answer to Arsenal’s problems in attack and up front. Seven months later, with nine goals from 27 appearances for Arsene Wenger’s side, Lacazette is not suddenly an average striker, just one let down by timing and Arsenal’s maddening inconsistency.

READ MORE: Arsenal fans criticise Granit Xhaka following Spurs defeat

Embroiled in another season of mediocrity, Arsenal’s defence and defensive midfield have been their biggest problems. The Gunners have scored as many goals as second-placed Manchester United, but conceded 36 to United’s 19 and have already matched their ‘goals against’ tally for the entirety of 2015/16.

While Laurent Koscielny is starting to feel his age at centre-back and none of his defensive understudies seem capable of replacing him, ineffectual performances in the deep midfield role from Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka – another signing who once piqued the excitement, but whose efforts have been far less creditable than Lacazette’s – have left the team looking disjointed through the middle and often disorganised without the ball. Lacazette is not responsible for any of this, but the dysfunction behind him is bound to affect his showings. That’s one aspect of his unfortunate timing, the other being the surprise availability of Aubameyang.

READ MORE: Wenger cautious over comparisons between Henry and Aubameyang

While Arsenal fans would almost certainly have wanted Aubameyang over Lacazette last summer, there was little sign that the former Borussia Dortmund talisman was a realistic target within the parameters of what Arsenal were, back then, willing to spend. Indeed, maybe he wasn’t a realistic target until his relationship with Dortmund broke down spectacularly and BVB made a decision to sell based largely on his disciplinary shenanigans.

PR win, Lacazette’s loss

With Arsenal struggling badly and the club hierarchy looking for a win in the transfer market, Aubameyang represented the feelgood fix which Wenger and Arsenal’s PR department were after. Lacazette now seems like mere collateral, a striker dropped into a flagging team which doesn’t have the luxury, time or patience to get the best out of him.

As such, it’s hard not to sympathise with Lacazette. Having finally made his big move away from France, he has found himself usurped by an even more prolific striker as Arsenal desperately attempt to chase results with expenditure. While it can’t have helped his confidence that Wenger hardly ever allowed him to finish a full 90 minutes early on, Lacazette now looks like he could be relegated to the role of a glorified substitute. Arsenal fans may react with a shrug after their delight at Aubameyang’s arrival at the Emirates, but spare a thought for a talented forward whose career at the club could become little more than a neglected stopgap.