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Alexandre Lacazette could take months to adapt at Arsenal, warns Robert Pires

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Former Arsenal icon Robert Pires has warned Alexandre Lacazette could take months to adapt to the Premier League.

Lacazette joined the Gunners from Ligue 1 side Lyon for a club-record £52million earlier in July.

The 26-year-old scored 28 goals in France's top tier last season and hit the target on his Arsenal debut in a pre-season friendly against Sydney FC.

But Pires says he thought Premier League football "wasn't for me" in the early stages of his Arsenal career after moving from Marseille in 2000, and believes Lacazette could have a similar experience.

"I think he'll be a success. But maybe he will need time to adapt," Pires told the BBC.

"He is a good striker who has scored a lot of goals with Lyon. Of course it will be very difficult in the beginning because when you play in France and move to England it is not the same, it is very aggressive.

"Maybe he will need time for the adaptation but everyone around him is very important, especially the French connection.

"But to make the adaptation, to find the rhythm and the tempo, for me it took six or seven months. It was very tough, for me it was the aggression and intensity."

Arsenal face Chelsea in their third pre-season friendly on Saturday just eight weeks on from their FA Cup Final triumph over the Blues at Wembley.