Olivier Giroud says that he’d welcome Arsenal signing a striker because of the increased competition it would bring, as well as boosting the squad.
Although initially reluctant to answer a question in the wake of yesterday’s 3-1 win over Everton, he admitted he’d be all for it if the club decided to do it.
When asked out the pursuit of a new player for his position, he said, “I’m not honouring this question. I’m trying to focus on my pre-season preparations.
“We are doing well together with a really good cohesion and the most important for me is that the team is always improving.
“If there is a new striker, it will be nice for all the team, because competition is good for everyone.”
Meanwhile, one of the reported targets, Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette, looks to have ruled out the possibility of a move with a declaration that he’s happy with the Ligue 1 outfit and wants to stay there.
“The noise does not disturb me from working to show to everyone who think that I have my head elsewhere that I don’t have it elsewhere,” he said.
“I have already told the coach and the President that I want to continue with Lyon this season, that I am fully implicating myself in the project this season.
“What goes on outside of that stays outside of it, but personally I know what I want this season. These sort of things are between my adviser and the President, my role is on the pitch.”
Of course if Lyon accept an offer that might change the landscape, but it seems clear the player isn’t agitating to get away.
Good attitude all round from Giroud, well said by him this time. Despite a lot of agitation for a new striker, he can/will do a good job for us.
is “cohesion” the new messiah?
Do we really want a player who implicates himself?
I thought this was brilliant. 😀
Why would Lacazette not want to join us when we just won the Barclays Asia Trophy?!?
This shit just blows my mind.
Lacazette isn’t better than what we have here at arsenal. And if you follow wenger’s quotes on the transfers he stresses a lot on the fact that the player has to be top top quality which improves the squad.
People are suggesting benzema and although I like the player I find him a bit similar to Giroud in terms of goal scoring. Personally I would be more interested in Lewandowski if he is available.
Isn’t Lewandowski similar to Benzema? Both fast, skillful strikers. Where as Giroud holds up the ball well, is good technically and is good in the air.
I think Benzema would be a better choice cause of his relationship with Ozil. At Madrid he has one job, pass to Ronaldo, it seems that’s everyone’s job over there. I think he could easily be a 25 goal a season striker if he wasn’t playing with Ronaldo.
He got 27 goals in 31 starts last season, without the benefit of our midfield creating multiple chances, so not very like Giroud in terms of scoring. Of course he’s saying he’s happy where he is – what player doesn’t say that before he knows he has a definite offer from elsewhere? I think he’d be very good for us, but by the look of things he’s not a target for Wenger. Benzema is clearly the first choice but it’s possible we also have an interest in Aubameyang. The reason I think this is the report by the fan who… Read more »
Berlin? Perhaps Hertha Berlin? Salomon Kalou plays for them. Just saying.
Oh, well played sir, well played.
Exactly! I don’t remember giroud ever scoring 27 league goals in the “inferior” ligue un.
According to some people on here, only aguero and suarez are supposedly “upgrades” on giroud.
Giroud is a better player now than when we acquired him.
Giroud scored 21 goals for Montpellier in the league 11/12, only 2 of which were penalties. Lacazette scored 27 goals last season for Lyon, 8 of which were from the spot. Not a phenomenal difference. I saw Lacazette play twice last season and whilst he looked sharp in both those games, so has Jermaine Defoe at times. It’s not a case of not hoping for a quality striker to be bought, it’s more a case of trusting Wenger to pinpoint one himself based on multiple reports and viewings rather than heeding fans blowing their load on a player they’ve never… Read more »
Very laughable you’re comparing him to Defoe based on watching him for 2 games.
Its even worse than people who said he’s just another walcott.
Giroud has had 3 seasons and he’s not shown he can win us the title.
In the last 3 seasons NONE of our players have shown they can win us the title. We’d have won the bloody thing if ANY SINGLE ONE of them had shown it (according to the standard you set for Giroud).
No I’m using the standard set by other title winning strikers.
Costa: 20 in 26 last season.
Aguero: 23 in 34.
Van persie: 26 in 38.
Those are the type of numbers you expect from your first choice striker with the midfield we have behind him.
Benzema (like Ronaldo) gets to feast on the lower 80% of La Liga with Real’s talent around him. Never forget that.
Benteke 42 goals in 89 games for Aston Villa, Giroud 41 goals in 97 games for Arsenal. But dont forget Giroud got to feast on the lower table teams with the qualities of Arsenal surrounding him. Yet still he cant outperform a lower mid table team striker like Benteke. In his 3 seasons with us his average goal yield is about 13.6 goals per season. And this is the return of a striker in his peak years. He turns 29 in September. I dont understand why people glorify Giroud as some kind of football god. My guess is social media.… Read more »
Exactly!!! This is what I’ve been saying. According to some people, we don’t need a world class striker because we have giroud. Compare him to previous title winning strikers, he comes off short.
So basically Giroud has a similar goalscoring record to a player valued (by Liverpool, admittedly, but still) at £32.5 million. Cool, that’s a tick in the Giroud column then. I really can’t be arsed to go trawl opta or whoscored or wherever it is to look at Benteke’s dire passing and hold up play stats, but I’m pretty sure there’s been significant media coverage about how Liverpool were umming and aahing about signing him because he really, REALLY doesn’t fit into a passing style of football. Villa play route one, they knock the ball up to Benteke and see what… Read more »
The goals/game ratio for Giroud and Benteke in the PL is 0.41 for both of them. Giroud has started one less PL game than Benteke. Giroud has made 25 more appearances in other competitions than Benteke over the same period. Stats are great aren’t they? You also need to be looking at what the other forwards/midfielders did alongside Benteke over that period compared to how ours did alongside Giroud, because Wenger doesn’t persist with Giroud only for his goals (and I don’t mean that you should compare their assists). The truth is, of course, that there are many unmeasurable facets… Read more »
Sorry, that was supposed to read, “there are many unmeasurable facets to assessing the relative value to a particular team of two different players in two different teams.”, though in comparison with Aston Villa I think Arsenal ‘are’ in a different league to them.
One should remember that Lacazette took penalties for Lyon which increased his tally by quite a bit And as far as support goes, Gourcuff and fekir (Grenier too when he is fit) is hardly a poor support system.
Lacazette is a good player but he isnt world class, at least not yet.
And does no one around here watch Ligue 1? Hardly anyone seems to have knowledge of the league which is quite good btw.
Or they were meeting Alex Ferguson for a curry that evening.
Maybe they’re thinking about buying that Immobile guy Dortmund have?
You know, just to have a striker named “Immobile.”
But Giroud is already immobile,I see the return of 442
Cruel!!!!! ….but funny.
Tidy player, but not really an upgrade on any of the options we already have. I don’t really see the point in pursuing this one?
im really hopeful we’ll get a striker with a killer instinct. even a poacher like Chicharito could be made world class by Sir Arsene?
If you want to get the thumbs up then the trick with this sort of comment is to name a trier, not a ponce.
We have Theo
So why do we need Lacazatte!
Yep I know Theo is injury prone, and what’s stopping Lacazatte from getting injured
What we need is to nurture The Ox and stop him being do damn careless with the ball and improve his goal scoring game. We need 10 goals from him next season
Sometimes it’s not always about buying pretty shiny players glistening through the glass window of foreign lands
We can nurture what we have to become the “glittering star” that so many covert from across the grassy knoll
Note: AFC do need a standby Le Coq
to make it short: because Lacazette is a much better striker.
I just want the season to start!!…
As long as Theo is healthy, we do not necessarily need a new striker. It may finally be time to give Chuba a shot as our 3rd option. My only concern at this point is with Sanogo leaving, and Joel Campbell appearing to be on the way out, our central options are relatively thin past Giroud and Theo. Benzema would be a pleasant surprise, but I don’t see Arsene spending £40m on him, all things considered.
Err…Welbeck?
Welbz is useful through the middle, it seems as if Arsene favors him on the flanks though. Chuba is certainly green and may not be at the correct level yet, but he has shown more natural ability to me than either Sanogoals or Campbell.
Akpom has done well at youth level and he has great potential but he’s nowhere near ready for the first team. He’s not ready for competitive football at all, as shown by his slightly underwhelming performances for the under-21s last season and his failure to score a single goal during his three loan spells. You could see it yesterday when he had two good chances but through inexperience messed them up. He’s very young and he’ll learn. A year training with the first team will hopefully be just what he needs to improve both his technique and his decision-making.
You’re clearly not interested in winning the league then.
rrrrrs
In the papers tomorrow….”Lacazatte refuses to completely rule out Arsenal move”…:-)
we should stop buying striker from ligue 1.. we bought chamack and giroud, both top scorer.. but they did not have a real effect in arsenal fc..
What a load of bolox
Well said… Profound even
Ever heard of the term “Selective Amnesia”?
True, Chamakh was a failure but Giroud has scored 50+ goals in 3seasons.You call that no impact? Also, it seems like you might be forgetting other Ligue 1 Imports such as Wiltord and Adebayor…Amd that’s not even counting Henry!!
That told him! 🙂
Didn’t realise Juventus played in Ligue 1
That’s why I said “that’s not counting Henry” who came indirectly from Ligue 1
Chamakh was never top scorer in ligue un.
Is Lacazette’s denial similar to how Delph said a week ago that he would stay at villa….. And when Poker Genius Wenger gives Lacazette a call , he will probably say that he was made to say this on gun point and leave France for England where ”Fans” don’t throw urine at sportsmen…….
and by England I obviously mean Arsenal because the Chavs probably drink it and Manure bathe in it…… And urine not blood is what runs through every Orcs’s body…….
Lets see next season if he is worth something instead of his Money hungry Lyon president setting figures out of his ass
Give theo a chance and keep him fit. I’ll bet the likes of terry would be afraid of theo’s pace and movement than Giroud’s holdup play and power. go for Lewandowski and benzema or no body at all.
We’re not winning the league if a striker doesn’t come in. I like Giroud but we need better up front to take us to the next level. Welbeck has potential but is far from the finished article.
That’s easy. Just get a striker who is clearly superior to Giroud and who is available. Surely, there are many who fit the description. Would you mind giving a couple of names?
I agree that there aren’t many around who are available, which is a shame really. I still stand by what I said though.
I’m not going to be slating Wenger if we don’t bring in a striker because I genuinely believe if someone better than Giroud was available, provided the price was also somewhat realistic, Wenger would sign him.
However, I still maintain that we’re not winning the league if we don’t bring in a striker.
….OK, but if we do win it this season without bringing in a striker then I don’t want to see you celebrating with the rest of us. OK? You’ll have to just make do with celebrating the 3rd FA Cup in a row and the first Champions League win.
🙂
If we don’t sign a striker but end up winning the league I’ll happily eat some humble pie! Regardless of the business we do this summer, there’s nothing more I want than us to win this league, it’s been way too long.
This squad as it is, will not win the league. We need a striker and a dm. Anything less, and it’ll be another FA cup/league cup and “great end to the season”
I don’t think that we need another striker. Giroud is an excellent player and there will be more than enough goals from the other players, barring an injury crisis. What we do need is another DM. Carvalho is supposedly injured, so who else might Wenger turn to? Bielik is still young…perhaps Wenger will expect Chambers to back up Coquelin?
le Coq is still young.
Lacazette IMO only if Theo decides not to stay.
Otherwise someone with slightly different attributes could be more useful.
Top end striker better than Giroud is extremely tight on supply side. If Benzema moves, who will RM get? Welbeck needs time as well to develop much like Bellerin and Coquelin last season. If Walcott stays, we will have a third striker. He started on the wings yesterday and still nabbed a goal from the middle. IMO it does not matter where he starts across the attacking line and to some extent (dependent on opposition), may be more benficial to him coming in from either wing and giving him better mobility. If his hang up is about starting through the… Read more »
Lyon will play in the Emirates cup next weekend, right? Lacazette u better put up a show. At least we deserve to know what the fuss is all about
Benteke 42 goals in 89 games for Aston Villa, Giroud 41 goals in 97 games for Arsenal. But dont forget Giroud got to feast on the lower table teams with the qualities of Arsenal surrounding him. Yet still he cant outperform a lower mid table team striker like Benteke. In his 3 seasons with us his average goal yield is about 13.6 goals per season. And this is the return of a striker in his peak years. He turns 29 in September. I dont understand why people glorify Giroud as some kind of football god. My guess is social media.… Read more »
People put too much stock at times in number of goals a striker scores without looking at all the other aspects of the position. Yes, goals are the primary role of a striker in most people’s minds, but there are so many other things that player needs to do (bring his teammates into the game, be an outlet/target, draw defenders to open up runs for others, defensive responsibilities, etc.) as well as varying styles they need to be able to play with and against (such as matches where we are pushed back defensively and need to counter more like vs… Read more »
This obsession with another CF… As explained by Walcott recently, we have been playing a flexible system up front. Both flank players are attackers and Alexis (and walcott) have profited regardless from their wide positions which in fact offers them greater mobility which suits their strength. we already have plenty of players who can reap goals for us in walcott, Alexis Ox and Santi (Welbeck should he start wide too) As far as the CF is concern, that position is mainly Giroud’s with Welbeck as alternate. As with Coquelin and Bellerin, there is nothing to suggest that Welbeck given his… Read more »
What a load of nonsense. As it is, we do not have a SINGLE player that can score 20 goals in the league alone. We only have 3 who can score 20 in all competition. They are Theo, Alexis and Giroud. If you look at the previous champions of the epl you’ll notice they have strikers who have scored 20 or more in the league(except the 13/14 season where Aguero scored 17 in 23, but yaya scored 20 and dzeko scored 16). Giroud is average…despite having a midfield like ours, he still can’t score 20 in the league. Lewa, Suarez,… Read more »