Arsenal’s new signing Alexandre Lacazette is irreplaceable, according to the coach of Lyon, who sold the forward to the Londoners last month.
Lyon have been hit by an exodus of top players during the close season including Corentin Tolisso, Mathieu Valbuena, Maxime Gonalons and Rachid Ghezzal.
But none is more damaging than the loss of 26-year-old Lacazette, the club’s top scorer in each of the last four seasons.
“We can’t replace Alex. We’ve bought Mariano (Diaz), who has different qualities, and we have young players with different qualities too,” said Bruno Genesio.
“We’re going to have to compensate collectively for his departure.”
Lacazette was Ligue 1’s top scorer in 2014/15 and finished second to Paris Saint-Germain stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani over the subsequent two years.
He bagged 91 league goals and 113 in all competitions over the last four seasons, convincing Arsenal to splash out £52 million ($68 million, 58 million euros) to sign the France international.
Lyon finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season and will play in the Europa League during the coming campaign, with the final of that competition played in their own stadium in May 2018.
“That needs to be a positive pressure,” said Genesio.
“We can’t be over-motivated or allow that to create negative waves by saying we have to win or have to be in the final because it’s in Lyon.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to play in a first European final, and on top of that it’s at home.
“It needs to transcend the team and not create a pressure that inhibits us.”

Unsettled Sanchez back in training with Arsenal
Alexis Sanchez finally returned to training with Arsenal yesterday amid persistent speculation the Chile forward is keen to leave the Gunners.
Sanchez missed Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Australia and China, as well as last weekend’s Emirates Cup tournament, as he rested following international duty at the Confederations Cup.
The 28-year-old was due to resume training with his Arsenal teammates on Sunday, but he was unable to fly back to London until yesterday after going down with the flu.
Just hours after posting a picture on social media of himself and his dogs next to a private jet, Sanchez added a photo of him running and wrote: “Back to training.”
Wenger had said he would have to check on Sanchez’s fitness before deciding whether to include the former Barcelona star against Chelsea.