Birthday Boys- Alexandre Lacazette and Kyle Walker

Today’s edition of the Birthday Boys sees us explore the career’s of Arsenal talisman Alexandre Lacazette and Manchester City full-back Kyle Walker.

Alexandre Lacazette

The Frenchman turns 29 today and he’s had a fantastic career so far but where did it all start for Lacazette.

Olympique Lyon was the club that saw Lacazette rise through the ranks and in one year from 2008 to 2009 he would make it from the U19’s all the way to the senior team and earn his professional contract.

His first season would only see him appear once for Lyon contributing to no goals but, with more experience he would get greater game time.

In the 10/11 season he featured 11 times scoring two goals and assisting twice. The next season the striker was a regular starter for the French team. 43 appearances in one season scoring ten goals for the first time and also providing six assists.

37 appearances in all competitions followed with ten assists and four goals in that campaign.

The next two years would see the Frenchman’s name on the target list of the top clubs in Europe. The 13/14 saw the forward score 22 goals in 54 appearances, followed by 31 goals in 40 games the following season.

23 goals arrived in the 15/16 campaign but, nothing tops off his 16/17 campaign for Lyon. 45 appearances in all competitions scoring 37 goals came for Lacazette, being crowned top scorer in Ligue 1 that season with 28 goals.

In July 2017, Arsenal would purchase the highly rated Frenchman for £48 million and he looked like a solid buy for the Gunners.

His first season at Arsenal wasn’t the same as Lyon but, he still made good progress scoring goals. 39 appearances for the Gunners and scoring 17 goals in all competitions.

49 appearances in the 18/19 season saw the striker score 19 goals and assist 13 goals. This season saw the Frenchman play 26 games so far scoring nine goals and providing three assists.

Intenationally, he has had a lot of competition in his position for the French national team but, has made 16 appearances scoring three goals.

He’s won a couple of trophies in his career so far. For Lyon he won the French Supercup twice and the French Cup once. With Arsenal he missed out on the Europa League last season but, has won the Community Shield with the London club.

Kyle Walker

Kyle Walker turns 30 today and has been one of the most reliable defenders in the Premier League over the last decade.

The full-back started his career at Sheffield United when given his professional contract in July 2008. A couple of months later the defender would move on loan to Northampton Town on loan till the end of the season. He would make nine appearances for Northampton in League One that season.

He would return back to Sheffield United in January 2009 to make seven appearances assisting on two ocassions.

In July 2009, the right-back was bought by Spurs for £5 million but, was loaned back to Sheffield United in the next month.

28 appearances for Sheffield United that season saw the right-back have a decent campaign in the Championship and he returned back to Spurs in February 2010 where he would make two appearances for the London side.

The 10/11 season would see Walker loaned out yet again this time to QPR, making 20 appearances for the West London side.

For the second half of the 10/11 season he went out on loan to Aston Villa. He featured 18 times for Villa scoring twice and assisting three times.

Upon his return from his loan spells, he would be a regular feature in the Spurs team. In the next three seasons, he would feature 124 times.

An injury in the 14/15 would see him feature 21 times that season and play U21 football as he looked to return back to fitness.

74 appearances on his two years after his return from injury saw the likes of Manchester City want to sign the full-back.

After a battle to keep Walker, Spurs decided to offload the right-back to Manchester City for £48 million in the summer of 2017.

130 appearances for the Citizens in his last three seasons has shown that he has been a great right-back and emergency centre-back for his country.

For England, he has made 48 appearances and has featured in Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup.

His career so far has seen him grab a decent amount of trophies all with Manchester City. Two Premier League titles, one FA Cup triumph, two Community Shield wins and three League Cups secured by Manchester City and Walker.

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