Olivier Giroud has become 60% less good looking by signing for Chelsea in a deal that reportedly sees Arsenal pocket £18.5 million.
The 31-year-old moves across London on an 18-month contract after six years as a Gunner having scored 105 goals in 253 games. He played his last minutes for us as a substitute in last night’s defeat to Swansea.
Giroud picked up three FA Cup medals along the way, scoring in one final [vs Aston Villa] and assisting Aaron Ramsey’s winners against Hull City and Chelsea in the other two. Not too shabby.
His departure has helped facilitate Arsenal’s capture of Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by freeing Chelsea to sell the Michy Batshuayi to the Bundesliga side. It’s sort of one last assist for the big man…although if he’d just moved to Dortmund himself this would all be a lot less painful.
Last summer Giroud rejected approaches from the likes of West Ham, Everton, Marseille and Lyon but a lack of game time in the first half of the season raised concerns about whether he’d make the France squad for the World Cup.
Signed from Montpellier for £13 million, few had heard of the striker before he made the move to the Emirates. While he started life slowly in the red and white, he went on to score a number of important and spectacular goals that made him a popular figure on the terraces. Most notably, his famous ‘scorpion kick’ strike against Crystal Palace was awarded the FIFA Puskas award for the best goal of 2017.
Giroud had the torso of a Greek God, the beard of a Spartan warrior and while we never got close enough to check for ourselves, we reckon he probably smelled quite nice too.
We can only hope that he turns to comfort eating to cope with the move to Chelsea. And that some of his hair falls out. We don’t really mean that. We’re just sad.
Sort of good luck Ollie, we’ll miss you.
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
This one hurts. More than alexis.
Of all players that have left in this window, and the one before, this one hurts the most. Gutted to see him go. Always gave it a 100% and seemed to genuinely care about Arsenal. It’s too bad he didn’t stay, and him going to Chelski makes it all the more unpalatable. We’ll miss you HFB!
and we’re helping a rival yet again. Location of our sold players actually makes this transfer period so-so. We brought in some nice players but made Man U and ChelSKI better….so frustrating following our beloved Arsenal.
So, what´s the difference between this and Walcott and Debuchy and Adelaide and Holding to Alexis transfer? body language?
Deluded Afc deserve relegation
It does…it really does.
This article made me remember the good old days, when it was possible to sign a good young striker for £13 million…
Parlour, Gilberto Silva and Giroud (plus many more). Guys who love playing for the club and do their upmost. We need more of these. Sorry to see him leave: my hopes:
1 – he never kisses their badge
2 – he plays again at the Emirates and 57,000 of us sing his song one last time
sad but still love him as man.
This is a classic case of “my minds telling me no, but my bodyyy, my bodddyyy’s telling me yes.” Sad to see such a loyal Gooner go. Never complained. Always professional. Even amidst the (usually unwarranted) criticism. He was a classic case of “if he cost 50 mil, we would have thought higher of him.” But, let me be real. This was the right move. Giroud was an aging CF that it is a role player now (that’s hard for me to say) and we had the opportunity to pick up a guy who can very well be the best… Read more »
Could we not just have paid them to take danny
I think we should be more reasonable than that. If you are running a football club, would you take Danny Welbeck or Olivier Giroud? We’re not playing FIFA.
:'(
I’m gonna miss the big man
Bleurhh, splutter, urrrgh, bleurrrrgh….
Can’t help feeling bittersweet now over this window despite the new signings.
Thank you Giroud for all the memories!!
Weird. This hurts more than Sanchez leaving.
Sanchez needed to do one and fast but this is just wrong. Fucking disgusting and wrong!
It shouldn’t be weird. Giroud is through and through an Arsenal man. Pity it had to come to this. I will for one will always cheer him and applaud him. HFB.
I won’t be able to watch any Chelsea games with him playing. I just can’t.
Thanks for the memories HFB. Certainly won’t be booed by me on your return to the Emirates. Hopefully Chelsea’s players start to down tools and suffer defeats due to them being dwarfed by the sheer beauty of Olivier Giroud.
I will really miss him.
Best of luck Oli “scorpion king” !
you are a legend to me. good luck HFB
Gutted, was kind of hoping we would of pulled the plug on this to screw over Chelsea, instead of Olli turning up for a medical they just got a letter saying remember Demba.
Anyways, best of luck to him and thanks for the all the goals
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Felt nothing when Alexis left. This one is tearing me apart. Just the idea of those blue c*nts celebrating his goals makes me sick.
Goodbye, Oli. One of my favourites.
Great player for Arsenal, really sad to see him go to the scummers over in west london…
Good Luck Olivier
pardon my french, but — poopy breeches!
Mental. We’ve sold top players to two top four rivals – pretty much all you need to know we’ve given up on even the top 4 this season.
Why Chelsea? Just say no. Keep him or let hin go to west ham or abroad but not Chelsea.
Prob because this was necessary to allow the pieces to move spot that PEA could sign for us. And probably also because Wenger and Arsenal respected Giroud and his service to the club enough that they didn’t force him to leave London if he and his family didn’t wish to. In the end, swapping PEA and Mhiki for Sanchez and Giroud, even though to rivals, probably had strengthened us quite well given our situation with Sanchez at 6 months remaining.
and signing Ozil up .
Now let’s see if there’s any weight to the David Luiz rumour.
Not that I’m a huge fan of David Luiz.
Take him over Johnny Evans.
Settle for any quality.
David Luiz and Evans are rubbish. Neither will hep our current issues. Both are aging assets.
Our problems stem from midfield.
There is no outlet for the defense (not to excuse them from silly errors)
Ozil you can forget.
He’s gone.
Stop being delusional.
Mhkitaryan is in to cover for his departure. That’s the sort of quality replacement (band aid) we are going to get now.
Be wary.
Erm. It was confirmed a few hours back that ozil has signed da ting! This is reality!
Not a peep on the official Arsenal FB about Özil so not confirmed.
Arsenal had all the time in world to do the deal but they dragged their feet for far too long. Sending top executives to Germany and they dilly dally on the deal leading to this. It’s just sad that Giroud was used as a pawn in this game.
If that is true, that Giroud HAD to go in our for us to complete our business, then our negotiating team and those responsible for player management are pathetic to the core, and prove that we really can’t compete consistently with the big clubs. Among the top six teams, we are the only one who was forced to do anything truly unpalatable: strengthen our rivals. ManCity obviously do what they want when they want to, and solve injury problems and defensive shortcomings simply by buying better ones, no matter the cost (I think their team now tops out around 1… Read more »
He wanted to go to get more minutes, like it or not. Look how much love everyone is showing him on this site, maybe the board feel the same and have allowed to go to whichever club he wanted.
And I think you’ll find Solskjaer and maybe even Wiltord could claim to be the best super subs in the history of the PL.
Thats not to knock HFB just an observation
Giroud hurts… a lot. Yet I think our net net is positive this January. PEA + Mikhy against HFB and Sanchez works in our favour – more balanced team. The extra money spent on MÖ is in good part offset by the savings on Theo’s wages.
Meh, sometimes perfect can be the enemy of the good. too many times we have been indecisive, and the squad grew stale as a result. I dont disagree with the observations, but I am impressed and encouraged by the amount of work done in this short window. Its a tremendous effort, and I think just getting all the deals done is in itself a milestone. Could you imagine Dick Law doing all of the following in 30 days? (alexis/mhkit), (2) (auba/giroud) (4) theo, (5) coquelin, (6) debuchy, (7) OZIL!!!!! plus all the kids that came in and went out on… Read more »
They might not have let Batshuayi go to Dortmund. It was the classic house sale scenario 🙁
Man this one really hurts!
Olivier feels so Arsenal, it will be really weird to see him in that other shirt.
But his decision makes sense
This is arguably his last WC and why would he leave London and move to the sinking ship in dortmund?
From one sinking ship to another?
Really sad that he is gone. A classy player a Gent. All the best to him in the French Team, not so much playing for Chelsea.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…….
Good luck in Russia, Ollie. In the meantime, score a lot of goals in a losing cause.
Au revoir, Olivier….sniff… sniff….will miss ya, ya HFB. I’m going to randomly say “SCORPION KICK” like Peter Griffin says “Roadhouse” all day today in your honour.
Poor Ollie!
Gutted.
Arsenal man through and through. Takes a real shine off the earlier incredibly positive news around Auba and Our Mesut. Have to say, this makes me sad on many levels. And angry that we’re undoubtedly stregthening one of our rivals for top 4 (I know, stop it). If Chelsea finish above us, then this will look stupid. Laca hasn’t exactly set the world on fire yet, Auba may similarly struggle to bed into the PL. Giroud is guaranteed goals, many of them absolute bangers. He had a fine part to play in some of the best goals I’ve seen Arsenal… Read more »
Which one, Scorion kick, sort of bicycle kick, assist to Wilshere, assist to Rosicky, screamer against city?
Really gonna miss the handsome bastard…
Not good news. Seriously under-rated player. Did really well for us and never complained. Thanks Ollie.
i can’t change that i’m gooooorgeous. au revoir Olivier! thanks for everything.
*seductively sprays deodorant*
This is ridiculous. Can’t believe it. Hurts to see Giroud leave. It is going to hurt me even more when I see him playing in that shit ass blue jersey.
We let this happen by mucking around to finalise the Auba deal.
Leave with your head held high Giroud. We all love you. We always will. NaaNaaNaNaNa Giroud.?
We don’t have to play them again this season, but we have no plan B. If we actually have a plan A this season. Very good player and we’ve let him go for pittance. Shame on this club.
I am surprised, I must admit, that we’ve let him go for less than £20m in the current market. That’s less than we got for Theo. Only an 18-month contract, though.
This sucks.
Thanks alot Mrs Giroud.
Let’s pray Chelsea sack Conte and the next guy who comes in is as despicable as Maureen and he hates Giroud. Giroud’s wife will do the rest.
Fk that! For me thats a huge blow, even though we signed mhiki and aubameyang. especially when u look at the Europa League. gosh, at least one transferwindow where there is nothing to complain about.
Also for HFB himself this move doesn’t make a lot of sense for me. Was he pushed out of the door?
Good luck, seeing him in a chelsea dress bothers me more than alexis playing under mourinho.
Terrible news. Decent goalscorer, good touch, awesome link-up play. Rate him more then Laca, who, however, needs to be given more time before he can be assessed.
Good luck to Oli, everyone knows that we forced his hand, and the man has a right to decide he wants to stay in London.
One of my favourite Arsenal players of the last 4 years.
Oh crap – both to the club for letting him go to Chelsea as for Giroud on insisting to there instead of Dortmund!
Another one of our players choosing to sign for a direct rival although probably not for money, nevertheless the same outcome of strengthening a rival.
If Oli could have chosen, he’d still be wearing red. He wants to play football and wants to live in London. He is too good for West Ham and at the rest of the lot. Chelsea want him, he says yes. I don’t blame him at all. We made a choice – one with which I don’t agree – and we shall see how it plays out. Oli to Chelsea is the added price we had pay for our shiny new toys (Auba&Laca), and it is a high price indeed.
Think he was managed poorly this season. He could easily have started more games, like the one yesterday when the opponent have most players in their own box. We didn’t once see him along lacazette up top. disappointing. He worked fine along griezman for France.
I do think aubemyang is a better player and one I’d rather see in an arsenal line up. But it’s like we can’t take one step forward unless we take one big or small step backward.
Chelsea FFS
Sucks that he is going to Chelski. But does it really suck that he is leaving?
If he had gone to Everton or West Ham it wouln’t hurt as much? Olivier has been a great player for us over the years. But as a striker who always struggled with speed, at 31. It’s not exactly awful.
But yeh, still sucks he is going to Chelski. Scum bags.
Yes it sucks that he’s leaving and it sucks extra hard that it’s Chelsea.
Absolutely right, just sucks he’s gone to Chel$ki
Yes it does. We’ll see how you feel when a frustrated, goalless Laca gets subbed for Welbz in the Europa League.
Gutted. We’ve lost hell of a player. Naturally our new look strikeforce will click instantly and miraculously cure our defensive woes. Roll on Saturday. I live in Swansea,work was fun
As with all things Arsenal, always a downside to every happy scenario! Why should we have to lose the HFB on such a lovely day? It really hurts much more than the Alexis move.
Goodbye Olivier…you’ll always remain ours in my heart (unless you score against us and do an Adebayor slide next season!)
sad end of a good deal
?
Whether or not you rate him as world class, he is definitely a class act. My son’s favorite.
Aubameyang had better make a huge impact to reduce the sting of this.
I feel like I’ve broken up with the love of my life. I had to leave work early with 4 tubs of ice cream. Just want to go home and watch videos of us happy together.
Hahaha…. love the 4 tubs of ice cream!!!
blog you need to add emoji, we need to appropriately express our emoji on oli
The aubergine? 😉
Sorry no. Sad crying faces of course
Never thought I’d be as sad as I am with Giroud going to the Chavs. Understand why he’s gone but its a shame. Normally takes a long time for fans to take to a player the way we’ve taken to HFB. Good luck mate, but its not a long contract so you may well come home one day
Any chance we actually sold them Welbeck with Giroud’s mask on?
So sad, I’ve always loved our HFB. If Wenger had played him when we needed to he wouldn’t have felt he needed to leave. I was over the moon when Mesut signed but this feels terrible. Aubameyang had better be fucking good, because we’ve sacrificed Oli, a warrior who loves us, so that we can get a shiny new toy and it feels shit. Good luck Oli, I won’t be watching you any time soon, it’s too painful.
Three of my favourite players, gone! 🙁 Theo, Alexis, now Olivier… I shall miss them all. Though to be honest, they were all having their off days this season.
So, instead it’s Henrikh and Pierre-Emerick, and best of all, Mesut is here for the next 3 years!
Four out so far — Coquelin too, five if you include McGuane — and three in — let’s not forget Mavropanos. We are living in interesting times.
You said it. We had a very thin squad in December, now we have lost 5 gained 3. The squad is even thinner! Oh how we need defenders! Even Luiz, Evans….please.
I give up! We are in the Europa lge and have 1 striker having sold 3 ( Pierre cuptied )! Am I missing something here? So we are still weaker than before this transfer window? Selling Giroud to the chavs as well?!? Ooh to be a Gooner eh? And our new forward will be known as umboomerang til I can remember how to spell it! Onwards and sideways!!
Gonna miss HFB! There was an element to his play that made it easier for others.
I’m sure others have this question too, but why can’t we get more for our players? Theo for 20MM, HFB for 18MM?
#HurtsMoreThanSanchez
Someone should tweet Giroud a screenshot of these comments, would be a nice gesture to show him how much he’ll be missed. I say this as I don’t have twitter : P
I’m gunna miss hfb, but I hooe he scores meaningless goals for chelsea, like 2-1 losses so he goes to the wc with france. After that I don’t want him scoring for chelsea again. He’s a rival now (waaaa)
Devestating
What have you meme’d me do arseblog.