According to the Mirror, Olivier Giroud is a target for Borussia Dortmund as they prepare for life without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who is being linked with a move to Chelsea.
The future of the French striker has been cast into doubt following the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette for a club record fee, and the 30 year old admitted he’s unsure of where he’ll be playing football next season.
Speaking on the club’s tour of Australia, Giroud said of his whereabouts next year, “I honestly don’t know. At the moment I’m still an Arsenal player so I’ll try to be professional like always and prepare well for next season.
“Obviously there will be more competition, even more than last year, but it’s always nice for a striker to feel the pressure and I always deal with it.
“I’ve been through some difficulties these last years but always succeeded to bounce back, but this one I don’t know. I don’t know about my future so I can’t tell you more. I’m focused on my pre-season.
“It is true that I really enjoyed my five years with Arsenal. I try to be professional. No matter what happens, I did my job on the pitch.”
With Lacazette and seemingly Danny Welbeck ahead of him in the pecking order, his playing time will be limited and in a season preceding a World Cup that’s not ideal for him.
However, he showed last season he can be a very useful squad member, so we’ll have to wait and see what transpires here.
Everton and West Ham remain interested, but a Bundesliga switch would certainly be an attractive one, particularly if he’d go there as their main striker.
Pretty torn on this one to be honest. one hand 25 million for a 30 year old squad player makes a lot of sense but considering we have to play 165,000 Europa league games & Welbz is prone to breaking you need three strikers on the books for the formation we are currently playing.
Unless we can get a better & younger upgrade I would probably keep him.
as an option Walcott springs to mind? That could be his use in the end.. .He does know how to bang them in and the quality of the opposition should let him do so too
Theo seems to be a winger these days, not sure he can lead the line in a 3-4-3, he hardly played after we changed formation at Boro.
I think we will keep HFB (he just signed a contract extension, remember), unless we buy another ‘world class’ striker such as Mbappe…which I don’t think ia going to happen. AW likes and needs him
I think Dortmund would be a downgrade for his career.
Really? As much as I love Giroud and would be happy for him to stay, I think Dortmund would be a great fit for him. I think he’d thrive and would stay in the picture for France etc.
I don’t care one jot about what would help Giroud with France. Leaving The Arsenal when we need him, however infrequent that might be, would take away a great option we have, even if he mainly comes off the bench. “A great for Giroud” is whatever is best for Arsenal, in my opinion.
We need more ‘Arsenal first’
Make arsenal great again
A footballer always seeks to play, between a place bench and a starting 11 place in another team, I know which I would choose. The bench option will be least considered.
Yeah, playing week-in week-out for a title-aspiring side in one of the Europe’s top leagues in front of 70 000 people that scream their hearts out definitely sucks. Real chicken feed that club.
It would not be a downgrade. It’s a lateral move in terms of club status, and he’d be their main striker, which would be an upgrade for his career.
There’s not really a reason to let him go now. Sell him in January if he’s not playing.
it would be so dumb to sell him. he’s a great second striker, has a very professional attitude, gives us an aerial option, and if the new boy (god forbid/touch wood) gets a long term injury, he’s our best bet to score 20 goals.
Has Welbecks goal scoring record earned him a spot ahead of Giroud?
Not for me.
I feel the same. Except from his pressing play, defensive attitude and pace I do not see why whould Welbz be ahead of him. But regarding scoring goals, which is his main role, I think Giroud is much better.
Hard to argue with that but I think AW likes the way Welbz dovetails with Ozil and sanchez. Would still definitely keep Giroud though. January window is always an option if he isn’t getting games. Watching the interview he gave though he looks like a man with one foot out the door 🙁
Maybe pre Lacazette. But not now for sure. Giroud is a class act and i really hope he stays!
Especially now with Lacazette I feel that Grioud is a much better second option. He offers something different while Welbz style of play is very similar to Lacazette – only not as clinical…
Giroud is good enough to get games. If he hits his 10 game scoring streaks, great. If he dries up, we got options and he’s a great one off the bench.
If selling Giroud to Dortmund makes it easier for Chelsea to land Aubameyang, then it’s more reason not to sell. Keep our squad strong, make Chelsea have a harder time strengthening theirs.
Green arrow if you’d like to keep Giroud. Red arrow if you’d rather sell and balance the books and add Mahrez
Adding Mahrez probably wouldn’t do much to balance the books.
It makes much more sense to lose Theo who is closer to a like-for-like for Lacazette.
Giroud offers us something else and doesn’t need to just be a super sub. Start him against those teams who just park the bus from the first minute.
Giroud apologists are part of the reason why we languished, and ultimately finished, outside the top four. Acceptance of mediocrity breeds mediocrity.
Trolling I hope! Nobody needs to apologise for one of the best strikers in the league.
I still think Lacassette is cover for the departing Sanchez and we need to keep Giroud to rotate in with Welbz.
I really love Giroud and want him to stay! Hope I’m wrong about Sanchez.
Does Aubamayang leaving depend on a replacement? If so; let’s not kick off the chain that will lead Aubama to Chelsh*t.
IF M’bappe decides to come here(and that’s a big IF) then i guess Giroud will make way for him. Wenger will do anything for a player like M’bappe.
I find that rumour hard to believe from Dortmund’s point of view. With all respect to Giroud, he’s certainly not an ‘upgrade’ or even a replacement for Aubameyang.
Bosz might well be playing a different style of game at BVB next season, but it’s still based on Tuchel’s and Klopp’s hard-pressing legacy, which Giroud with his lack of pace will find very difficult to execute.
Yeah, as many have pointed out in the past, Giroud is very good, but when he is leading the line, Arsenal have to play a style that we don’t prefer. That is even more true for Dortmund. Aubameyang has incredible pace, a brilliant threat on the counter. Not qualities we associate with Giroud (fine movement in the area, intelligent positioning, very good technique, strong in the air, and scores a shit-load of goals).
When they both played in ligue 1 Giroud looked the better player. Admittedly that is five years ago.
I’ve always loved Giroud’s professionalism and constant self-improvement. I mean he wasn’t exactly young when we bought him but he has improved so much since then. Each season he has fought the valid, but often lazy, criticisms made against him. First they said he can only score headers…by his second season he improved his technique massively, started making some beautiful touches and scoring those near post flicks. Then they said he didn’t turn up against big teams…so he showed them by scoring against utd, city, spuds, bayern (on 3 occasions), liverpool etc So they claim he isn’t consistent…and now he… Read more »
What a quality fucking comment. Here here
100% this
If we claim he’s too slow to play Arsenal’s preferred style of play, will he suddenly run faster too?
I like Giroud. Would like to keep him. But I’m not sure it’s in his best interest to stay. Nor Arsenal’s.
But I damn sure wouldn’t do anything to help Chelsea get better.
If Aubamenyang does not end up in Real/PSG then i really cannot understand why we were not after him.
Well, according to German media the most likely destination has been China so far, but that would have to be done by the end of the week, as far as I understand it. After that, Dortmund say that any transfer will still have to happen this month, otherwise he will stay. No transfer deadline day shenanigans for them.
Giroud strives on competition! Would really like to see what comes of the competition, would we finally see the full potential of the squad this season? Interesting times.
Super professional who should be kept. Unless WE buy Aubameyang
How can Danny Wellbeck be ahead of Giroud?
Go, go, go, Giroud… Somewhere else.
That advice suits you best.
I know this isn’t arsenal related but why are teams bidding £40million for siggurdson? We got lacazette for an initial £45million.
exactly if siggurdson is 45 million than sanchez has to be around 100m easily..
I have always liked Siggurdson I think he is great.
Always been a guilty secret because of the faint whiff of Spud, but he is mustard
On a side note – I don’t understand why if we want to recoup some of the money we are spending and need to free up wages (thanks to the wage cap agreement) why we aren’t talking about selling Walcott instead of Giroud. I get that Walcott scored a lot of goals last year but Wenger also totally stopped playing him post the Crystal Palace debacle. He has no role in our new system and if we sign Lemar he will be a back up when we play the 4-3-3 (or variation) again. He’s also on pretty high wages and… Read more »
You do know someone has to want to buy Theo right?
I’m sure West Ham or someone would be enamoured by him. This is a guy that scored consistently in the PL last year. No top level club will likely want him- but he might prefer to go mid-table and actually play.
I’m not actually sure they would be. He’s not at an age where he will improve or have a resale value, he isn’t in the national team so his profile isn’t that high, he has an awful injury record and he would be expensive. On top of all that he actually seems really content at Arsenal, I don’t imagine his agent is making calls trying to find a club for him, Giroud on the other hand is unsettled slightly and thats plain for everyone to see, hence why there’s interest. If it was a choice between selling either of them… Read more »
What a downgrade for Dortmund and it’d represent such an upgrade for us
It’s a tough one, from the clubs perspective I’d say keep him all day long but for Oli this is on paper, probably quite a good move…
If he does go I would say we’d need a replacement to provide goals and aerial threat from the bench, but they would also need to be cheap and happy playing back up to Laca. Who could we go for?
I wish Wenger goes all out for next season and gets Aubameyang… He is a nightmare for opposing teams. Imagine this, Alexis-Aubameyang-Lacazette
Kolasinac Ozil Xhaka Bellerin
Mustafi Koscielny Holding
Selling Giroud shouldn’t be an option.
Seems everyone wants him. I’d keep him particularly if Alexis goes. He brings a different weapon to the fight to Lacazette. If anything Welbeck is the spare. He has all the attributes to supercede OG but he needs to sharpen up in front of goal. Until then, good to keep Giroud for one more season IMO. Its hardly as if his game is built on pace so he will only improve. Fantastic player to play off of with a sublime touch. And he’s been working on his fitness. That scorpion goal came from Giroud winning the ball in our half… Read more »
I don’t think Dortmund can afford his salary of £100k + per week