It was very unlikely to happen, but the brief period in which we were trying to sign Alexandre Lacazette was an exciting one.
It was a signal of intent from the club and although he didn’t sign, we went a long way in showing that we meant business during the summer. It was a gamble as if the club was ready to spin the gambling wheel in order to win online.
But what if we had signed him? How would Lacazette have done in his first season? Well we booted up our copy of Football Manager 16, whacked the France international in to Bilic’s squad and simulated a season.
The results? Read on to find out…
Competitions
Europa League
Like previous simulations this summer, the game forces West Ham to begin their Europa League campaign in the first qualifying round.
But that’s no problem at all, and Alexandre Lacazette plays a key role in ensuring we reach the groups stages.
Lacazette marks his debut with a brace as the Hammers thrash Bala Town 9-0 in the first qualifying round first leg, and then won the second leg 5-0 to secure a 14-0 aggregate win.
We then went on to beat Europa FC, Cukaricki and Osmanlispor to qualify for the groups, where we draw OGC Nice, Fiorentina and Anderlecht. During those qualifiers, Lacazette scored five.
We qualified for the knockout stages by finishing second in our group. Dreams of reaching the final were crushed when Villarreal knocked us out in the quarter-finals, 4-3 on aggregate.
Overall, Lacazette netted 11 goals in 17 Europa League appearances. Solid.
Capital One Cup
Not much to report here as we’re knocked out by Newcastle in third round, 3-2. Lacazette was rested for that game.
FA Cup
Not much to report here either, as Watford beat us on penalties in a fourth round replay. Lacazette had scored in the original tie, and then had an awful game in the replay.
Premier League
It was an inconsistent season in the league, but West Ham still managed to finish eighth.
Lacazette’s league form was just as inconsistent and he only managed to register six goals and one assist from 36 league outings – that’s a goal every 455 minutes.
His first league goal didn’t arrive until the end of September in a 2-2 away draw with Sunderland…
And he also let the team down by being sent off in the fifth minute of our trip to Bournemouth in January, which we eventually lost 3-2 after a crazy 15 minutes in the second half..
Here’s how the final league table looked, missing out on a spot in the following season’s Europa League on goal difference…
Lacazette’s Debut Season…
The Frenchman picked up a pre-season knee injury that left him out for a couple of weeks, but other than that he remained fit for the entire campaign and was a mainstay in Bilic’s side.
His record in the league compared to in Europe suggested he struggled to adapt to the nature of English football and instead thrived against foreign opposition.
That said, he did end the season as our second highest scorer with 18, behind only Manuel Lanzini, who scored 20…
Over the season Lacazette registered a goal every 239 minutes, made just 16 key passes and averaged just 1.03 shots on target per game.
And his overall record in each competition looked like this…
In conclusion…
It was a relatively successful season for West Ham as we enjoyed a brilliant run in the Europa League and finishing eighth in the Premier League.
But some would say it could’ve been far better had Lacazette replicated his Europa League form in the Premier League.
But after netting 18 goals in all competitions in his first season, it’s hard to write him off as a waste of money and it does give him a good platform to build on in his second season.
Rating – 7/10
Read our previous FM16 experiments by clicking on the players’ names below…
