Former Liverpool defender Aly Cissokho has backed Alexandre Lacazette to make an impact if he moves to the Premier League side in January.

The Lyon striker has been linked with a move to Anfield, although the Ligue 1 side have insisted that the 23-year-old is not for sale.

Cissokho, who is now at Aston Villa and played with Lacazette at Lyon, told footmercato.net: "It's great, I'm happy for him. He's a player who, when I was there, came from the reserve team to train with us, but you could see he had a future.

"He's a young player, and clubs like Liverpool have a lot of competition for places up front, and as a foreigner it's also different because you have to leave your home town and those close to you.

"It's a challenge, it's up to him to see if he's ready to take it on. We'll see what happens in the summer, but he easily has the quality to play in teams of that stature."

Lacazette has scored 19 goals in 20 appearances for Lyon so far this season.