According to The Times (£), Everton are ready to rival West Ham United and Marseille for the signing of Olivier Giroud.
The France international appears to be on his way out of the Emirates with the Gunners on the verge of sealing a deal for compatriot Alexandre Lacazette.
It’s suggested that the Toffees, now backed financially by former Arsenal investor Farhad Moshiri, see Giroud as a possible replacement for Romelu Lukaku who is being tipped to return to Chelsea.
On Friday, reports in France claimed that Marseille had tabled an offer totalling €28 million for Giroud. The 30-year-old striker is understood to favour a return to his homeland over a move to West Ham. It remains to be seen whether this new interest from Merseyside turns his head.
Presumably, Arsene Wenger won’t want to strengthen a Premier League rival, especially given Ronald Koeman has underlined Everton’s intent with a series of big-money deals already this summer.
In today’s market even as a 30 year old we should be getting £35m+.
Probably depends who’s buying to be fair
Why are we selling the only striker different from the other ones we have
He wish to go and remember.. AW is a player’s dream manager. Ok as long as we don’t get hurt by his sale.
Not sure that he does “wish to go”. Think he just wants assurances on game time, which he isn’t getting & I can semi understand his reluctance to play super-sub.
However, there’s going to be plenty of game time available this season. Especially if we go for it in all competition (which we should) whilst rotating the squad sufficiently to address our ongoing injury woes.
Believe it’s going to be a mistake to let him go, & completely agree especially as he’s the only striker different from the other ones we have.
I keep pooping but nothing to show for it. I’m distraught!
Try Brussel Sprouts.
There may be a problem with the poo-o-meter…it’s all pooped out. We’re looking to rectumfy the problem.
Well done.
What’s your analysis of the problem? If you’d like me to pull up a stool and have a look, let me know. I’ve worked on this sort of thing before in several continents.
I don’t want Oli to go.
I don’t either and I’m hoping Arsene doesn’t allow it. There were games last season when the opposition were ten men behind the ball that were crying out for Oli and we don’t have anyone else who can bring others into play in those situations. There is no reason why our two top strikers can’t be Lacazette and Oli, horses for courses, and why not play 3-5-2 sometimes?. If Alexis isn’t signing a new contract then transition him out and let him sit on the bench sometimes. Our HFB has 99 goals for us and loves the club, keep him… Read more »
If we lose the Ox, Oli and Alexis we need a hell of a lot more than Mahrez and Lacazette to be as good as last season or, ideally, even better.
We have Hector (plus others who can play WB). Losing Ox shouldn’t be so painful. We also have Welbeck and Perez, at least for now. Plus Lacazette. Alexis is the painful one obviously. If it’s a choice between Alexis Ozil Giroud or Lacazette Ozil Mahrez I would probably choose the latter honestly. It’s more of an arsenal front line. Assuming they all deliver obviously. I don’t think we can have a top notch target man and a top notch smaller faster striker. Unless we play with two strikers one is going to want to leave. We can’t expect to keep… Read more »
We do have Hector for the right wing back position but who’s his replacement if he gets injured? Jenks? Debuchy? With Europa league and 2 cup competitions you need 2 players for each position and if Hector gets injured we have to play Maitland Niles probably. The Ox could cover right back, left back, CDM, CM, OM and even the position behind the striker. It would be mad to let such a versatile player go, if you ask me. And I wouldn’t start Giroud in most of the games but if Plan A (Lacazette) doesn’t go according to plan, it… Read more »
Chelsea had a Fabregas as super sub last season. I don’t see a single reason why the Ox or Giroud are too good for that.
Hope Bellarin has a long hard look at Cesc before paying any attention to the flirting from the DNA specialist.
Of course circumstances are a bit different, Bellarin doesn’t have to contend with an other exceptional players in his position but what is to say things wouldn’t change – they have a famed academy. Bellarin would know first hand how devoted a father figure Wenger is!
It’s not that Arsene thinks they’re too good for that, the players do… I recently rewatched the England France friendly and the Ox playing in his preferred position was the worst player on the pitch for both sides bar possibly Stones. There were class players for both sides and he just couldn’t hang. He needs a change of scenery and I would have no problems selling him as long as we got adequate cover at RB. He obviously does not want to play on the wing and he obviously should not be starting in the middle for us so what’s… Read more »
This. Besides, who says the Ox can’t play ahead of Bellerin on plenty of occasions? Over the course of the season, obviously you can play Bellerin more often than Ox (if he performs better), but you don’t have to go into the first day of preseason announcing “ok Hector, you’re going to start all the important games unless you’re injured, and Ox you’re going to be behind him in the pecking order.” There are a lot of games, inevitable injuries, and let them compete for the place all season long (plus Ox can play elsewhere, obviously). Likewise, I don’t think… Read more »
And Willian at some point too! And the other striker that they paid 30+ for, Batshuayi. Not even a single fuss.
I agree it would be better to keep these players just saying not sure we can. We could force Giroud to stay but that would be a bit mean.
I think if we win the championship, it would be ok for Giroud to have been treated a bit mean, as it was for Fabregas last year. In the end you play for titles. If he wins the PL with us, I think he’ll look back at this season and think he has done everything right. Being super sub for a team that finishes 5th is way less attractive. But that’s why we should do everything to win this fu**in’ title. And it will be easier with Oli and Ox.
Yep.
He’s already been super sub for a year, perhaps he doesn’t want to do that.
Honestly i think we can win the title without him. Not sure what suddenly made Giroud the solution to all our problems, most people have been baying for his blood for most of the time he is here (which is unfair).
*has been here
Remember that patch when he went for about 1/2 the season without scoring? He wasn’t very popular then.
Don’t get me wrong i like him and i still think he can do a job for us, but i’m a bit flummoxed as to why when it seemed most people wanted us to sell him and get somebody faster/better they now are upset because we are talking about doing that …
On current form Of edges Bellerin for the wingback role. And I think he will stay.. Oli though he’s too good to be happy being 2nd pick and not enough to be consistently the first pick.
Maitland Niles, Chambers and Gabriel would be cover for Hector I would think. Nobody ‘better’ will want to be backup.
I think the case could be made to another player that there are plenty of opportunities to start and get playing time in rotation with Hector. The case could easily be made similar to Ox’s – with an Ox type Wing/CM player – that depending on formation and opposition they might actually get some starts ahead of Hector here and there in addition to rotation chances. And if they are versatile enough to play CM, wingback could be sold as transitional, or CM shifts also a part of the mix. It’s just a shame Ox doesn’t want to do it… Read more »
Completely right.
Are you thinking we’re playing with wing backs or not? It is utterly ridiculous (sorry, but it is) to suggest Chambers (slowest defender we have after Per) or Gabriel (one of the least comfortable on the ball in the squad) can cover for Bellerin at wing back. If we want to slump to fifth again, then this sort of planning is a good way to go about doing it. Maitland Niles might be able to do it, but he’s still basically an unknown quantity. Obviously he’s rated very highly inside the club, and he might make his proper first team… Read more »
um gabriel and chambers did alright covering for hector when we played back 4 … not saying it is ideal …
Chambers came in as a LB if i recall …
Sorry RB
Yeah, “alright.” That’s why I said, if we’re going to play a back four, then they’re just about adequate cover. Not so much as wing backs.
its not about who comes in or who goes, it about how those that we have or get are coached and motivated, Palace like many other games last season was not so much about the personnel as about how they lacked spirit and seemingly the motivation to perform. Will that change with another couple of additions or will they just fall into the malaise that seems to afflict the rest of the squad at times last season.
Finally somebody talkes sense
Cant upvote this comment enough, been saying this throughout the summer and last season. It doesn’t matter who we sign if we have the same attitude and tactics
We already changed the tactics.
The attitude remains to be seen …
The “we lacked spirit” explanation is all too convenient, as it’s completely unfalsifiable: there’s zero way to measure how much spirit/motivation the team has, and usually when a team plays badly and loses, it looks like the other team “wanted it more,” because, you know, they did stuff better. I think we do lack “spirit” at times (though this need not be because we’re lazy–could just as easily be because of lack of confidence, or because we want to win so bad we get nervous, etc). But we also lack organization, cohesion & tempo in our passing, tactical maturity, defensive… Read more »
Wenger has already admitted there were things going on in the back room that messed things up. Last season was not every season. Unlike before no big team scares me, the first half of the season we looked like world beaters.
You can thank Alexis and Ozil for some of the unrest. Hopefully all those things have been resolved and the team is ready to do their best.
So Everton are selling Lukaku for 50m or more and buying Giroud for 20-30m.
Sure.
He’s younger with a better goal scoring stat……. Go figure
Suspect they will be selling lukaku for more than 50m
If/when Lukaku goes, it’ll be for a heck of a lot more than 50m.
I am of the opinion you dont sell a regular 1st teamer to any EPL rival. Ever. Why strengthen the competition?? Even if its a team that might fight relegation… a higher level club like Arsenal generally means the players are a higher quality so why send that quality out to strengthen teams you will play against.
I agree with the logic but here’s the big issue for the Premier League going forward. Thanks to the PL money and the way it’s split (in Spain for instance Barcelona & Madrid have had separate tv deals = why the rich grow richer) there is so much money sloshing around the PL that wages and transfer fees here are totally out of whack with the rest of Europe. Take Sanchez to Bayern for instance – Bayern just broke their transfer record this summer and it was for under 35m gbp. Lewandowski is also their top earner on something like… Read more »
Also you have to remember that if we sold Oli to Everton he would also be playing against and hopefully scoring against all our other rivals too, so it shudn.t really work against us that much..unless Everton finish above us of course
Giroud shouldn’t be for sale, especially considering we have no clarity on Sanchez too.
Giroud is under a long term contract that he was very happy to sign at the time so keep him. Great back up player.
Exactly. Or if we’re going to sell, hold out for an extortionate price, like 35-40m+ for a 31 year old. Only reason to do this deal for under 30m, and to do it quick, is if we have someone else lined up, in addition to Lacazette, and want to free up the funds (since Mbappe is almost certainly not coming, I can’t see who this would be).
I can’t help but feel were losing more than were gaining here.
What worries me about the scenario of Lacazette replacing Giroud is his lack of experience of the PL. He may do an Ibrahimovic and slot straight in but chances are we’re looking at the standard year before he has acclimatised.
And no fucking way do I want to see Giroud playing for one of our PL rivals.
Is Lacazette too similar to Giroud? Can’t we not do the whole Plan A/B thing with the both of them? Giroud is underrated.
Giroud is a totally different type of player to Lacazette and for that reason we need them both.
Agreed. People also point to lacazette’s goal tally last year- loads of them came from the penalty spot.
Lacazette is very similar in style to Welbeck: lots of running in behind, good movement for through balls, etc. He’s an ideal player for someone like Mesut ozil to link with.
Giroud is a good player and has been a model professional for the majority of his time with us. He just signed an extension, so selling him to another pl club for less than he’s worth is stupid business. Moving him abroad seems like a better option strategically, if not financially.
Not only that but France gets Oli and Greizmann on at the same time- why can’t we with Lacazette at times seeing as he’s much more similar to Greizmann?
Giroud will stay this year wenger will not let him leave, we need him and his play that is very rare to find in the legaue especial his air play and hold up.
A Lacazette learning on the job with Giroud as rotation and sub is the sensible approach. Add, Welbeck stretching opponent defence, Sanchez with his ability to break through, Özil the sorcerer, Xhaka’s balls, Ramsey on form, Ox as previous season, Holding – the most marvellous of brutes, Hector with his pace, Per the tank commander at the back…and other new signings.
Gentlemen, we could be in for some fucking season!
Until the season goes A over T’s in November of course
Well yeah there is always that of course.
I have a soft spot for the big strapping Frenchman. Offers us something different and has proven to be a huge asset last season. If he wants to leave for more minutes with his eye on potentially his last international tournament, I can’t blame him, been a faithful and hardworking asset to the club.
You don’t seem very arsey
All of my comments are getting moderated, and the site is really slow
Mine too. It’s very annoying.
Seems ok now
J-M Aulas said that Arsenal told him categorically that Giroud is not for sale. They were pushing quite hard for him, as well.
Also, I don’t really see how he is a replacement for Lukaku. Very different styles.
And £20m? Pffft.
Don’t see the point in Walcott anymore?
Unless we revert to 4-2-3-2 again?
Perez wants out by the sounds of it?
Campbell has one year left on his deal.
Gibbs already been replaced
Sell Walcott £30mill
Campbell £3mill
Perez £15mill
Gibbs £12mill
And we’ll be in the black, Kroenke will be doing cartwheels.
And we’ll still have Giroud+Welbeck+Alexis+Laca for potentially starting at centre forward.
We might actually have a chance if we play 4-2-3-2, that extra man would come in handy!
I don’t understand why Giroud is so loved on here. He’s never really come close to scoring over 20 goals and stifles our counter attacks. He’s not world-class and fit to lead the Arsenal front-line, end of. I’m surprised Wenger has persisted with him this long.
Sorry – I can’t have that! In his 5 years with us, he’s scored 17, 22, 19, 24 and 16. Given that in virtually all of those seasons he’s been used in rotation, I think his figures are excellent and certainly not ‘never really come close to scoring over 20’. Check out his top 20 Arsenal goals and then tell me he’s not world class!
Plus, he’s the HFB, and a likeable bloke, at that!
I was clearly referring to EPL goals. Sorry…Carling Cup goals don’t count.
No. Fair point. Reduce my figures by two goals from the 2013 season.
Dude, this was a perfectly good comment until you went and ruined it with the last line: Olivier Giroud is NOT world class. There, I’ve said it. I don’t need to go watch a youtube clip of his top 20 goals for us, as I’ve watched every minute of every game that he’s played for us since he signed, and I think I have a pretty good idea of his strengths and weaknesses. We can appreciate a player for what he brings to the team, without being silly and calling players world class when they, very obviously, aren’t.
Giroud had nearly 100 goals for us in 5 seasons, and how any assists in big games? Sorry mate, but you need to go watch some fa cup final replays and sort yourself out there.
Giroud think he has something to prove, Wenger think he has quality we need at Arsenal. so no chance.
Did anyone else get the impression that Giroud and Sanchez might have had a bit of beef this season? Very little in the way of celebrating together etc.
If Oli goes (which I’ll be gutted about), I wonder if it’s with a mind to keeping Sanchez happy.
I think it goes back to when Alexis was acting like a prat and had the run in with Kos. Oli would have backed Kos, and Alexis doesn’t play nicely with Oli since then. I’ll rather keep the big man who loves the club and tell the spoilt brat to fuck off, but OOh, it’s Alexis who can do no wrong and is everyone’s favourite.
Ronald Koeman is a cunt anyway. Always bad-mouths Wenger.
Yeah! What a wanker! That’s our fucking job!
Crumbs this is going to be one long summer!!! We need to strengthen the squad but the top two attacking assets seemingly want out, whilst the ones that could be upgraded on but are as important to the team are seemingly disgruntled and want out!!! What a mess and shows we have lost momentum as well as pulling power!!!
Just let him score 2 more goals and then move him on.
Definitely shouldn’t sell him to Everton. He’s a good striker, Oli.
I would keep him around, he has a contract. He’s a very good plan B and would still get a lot of game time. We need more than one good goal scorer.
If we really had to sell him why would we take £20 million when Marseille already offered more? Especially to a club with ambitions of being where we were until this season and whose manager is a bit of a cunt.
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone.
[Quoting Ms Joni Mitchell]
So, take Paradise, and put up a parking lot. (Not talking about Parkhead, either) 😉
“Big Yellow Taxi” there, by Joni Mitchell. A song in which she complains that they “paved paradise to put up a parking lot” – a measure which actually would have alleviated traffic congestion on the outskirts of paradise. Something which Joni singularly fails to point out, perhaps because it doesn’t quite fit in with her blinkered view of the world. Nevertheless, nice song.’
I always thought she meant, we humans are destroying many ‘paradise’ like places on earth to create parking lots for our cars.
About us destroying the environment.
Without realising what we are destroying till it will all be gone.
You can never have too much parking. Just ask Mourinho.
You mean the rich man’s Tony Pulis.
If Alexis goes, we’re gonna need him more than ever. Such an unsung player. He’s got a great attitude too. God knows we need players like that, especially now.
since when are everton rivals???
I’d like to keep Giroud. His aerial ability is unique in the league and has proven to be rather effective as legs tire.
With that in mind, we shouldn’t strengthen a league rival; even if it’s West Ham. Sell him to Marseille, if we must sell.
We should be keeping Giroud. It will not be any upgrade with Lacazette coming in if we lose OG. We are likely to lose Alexis as is. Welbeck is not yet clinical in front of goal. I would make a point to Giroud that even his bit parts last season for us has not been detrimental to his appearances for France in which he has scored 16 goals in 16 games for them. If we revert to 4-2-3-1 as an option, I feel he is choice starter up top. In a 3-4-3, maybe Welbeck or more likely Lacazette gets the… Read more »
I completely agree – except that he’d be competing against one of his direct rivals for a slot in the French team. It’s one thing to be a bit part player to a Chilean and another to another Frenchman. I’d like to think there’d be enough room for them both at Arsenal and in the national team, though. With a PL and World Cup double.
Please stay! I’d sell Welbeck and Walcott who have not made the most of their opportunities. Welbeck was scarily profligate.
IMO.. We should not worry too much about strengthening our rival and sell to Everton if we can get good money. It’s about time we stop selling cheap. Giroud is not Sanchez.. Criteria should be monetary returns! We can use that elsewhere in the squad..£28m+ should be a good return considering his age and stat.
Oh sod off Everton
To me, Lacazette (and possibly Mahrez) is more a response to inevitably losing Alexis. I think we should retain Giroud bc what we are left with is Lacazette (who has a good goal scoring record but has to settle) and Welbeck (who is not clinical as yet) I feel we can accommodate all 3 with Lacazette and Welbeck also having utility in a wider secondary striker position coming off the flanks. This particularly in 3-4-3 where two players are tucked just around the main striker. I also think we need to sort out midfield an add one more quality player… Read more »