Alexandre Lacazette has opened up on his reasons for returning to Olympique Lyonnais from Arsenal this summer.
Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso both made emotional returns to Lyon in the recent transfer window, the former arriving from the Gunners and the latter from Bayern Munich after five years in Germany.
Lacazette and Tolisso left Lyon at the same time in the summer of 2017, with Lacazette the first-choice striker for much of his time in North London. But things began to go south for him there, and when Lyon came knocking, it was an offer he couldn't turn down.
"I met the president [Jean-Michel Aulas] and [general manager] Vincent Ponsot in March, and from then on I really felt a desire on their part," he told Free Ligue 1. "Honestly, they called my agent every week!
"I wanted to take my time and finish the season, to be professional compared to my old club. And then I saw several offers. Really, it was the project and the desire they had, the fact they believed in me, that tipped the balance."
Their belief in Lacazette has proved to be well-founded so far, with the forward already off the mark in his second spell at the club, scoring was proved to be the winning penalty in last Friday's 2-1 win over AC Ajaccio.
Lacazette now has 130 goals - as well as 44 assists - in 276 games in all competitions with Lyon, and, happy to be home, fans can expect to see him back to his best on an ongoing basis.
"I felt their desire from March," the 31-year-old reiterated of the OL board. "And that's something I've missed a bit in recent years: this feeling of being wanted, a bit of love shown towards a player."