Olivier Giroud says Arsene Wenger’s decision to recruit Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang played a fundamental part in his decision to leave Arsenal in January.
The France international says the decision to move to Chelsea and give his career a new direction was logical especially after France coach Didier Deschamps encouraged him to quit the Emirates.
The 31-year-old also revealed that on top of an approach from Borussia Dortmund, his agent was also contacted by Sevilla and Roma.
“A week before the end of the transfer window, I needed to hear his (Deschamps’) opinion,” Giroud told French programme Telefoot.
“He didn’t encourage me to join Chelsea. But he encouraged me to change clubs.
“Dortmund were interested but for a loan deal. There was Seville and my agent also received a phone call from Roma. But my choice was quite clear and obvious when I knew that Antonio Conte wanted to work with me.
“There are two central strikers at Chelsea. There will be good competition between us.”
Giroud turned down the chance to move to Everton and West Ham United in the summer despite Arsene Wenger making clear that Alexandre Lacazette, incoming from Lyon, would be his first choice striker. Despite the sale of Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez, Giroud says that Aubameyang’s arrival was sign enough that he should move on.
“I had wanted to stay at Arsenal to try my luck even when Alex Lacazette arrived. The reality is that the coach (Arsene Wenger) wanted to recruit another central striker (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang).
“When he signed, that made three central strikers and that is why I decided to leave.
“It was logical to give my career a new direction. There was a bit of disappointment even if I spent five magnificent years there.
“I could have stayed but I needed a back-up plan. I wanted to stay in the Premier League and Chelsea was a great opportunity for me.”
While strengthening a rival is hardly ideal, Arsene Wenger said on Friday that his decision to allow Giroud to move across London was in part based on his respect for a player that had given his all for Arsenal since signing in 2012.
Cant him even after he joined chelsea
I miss the HFB and his numerous interventions, but u probably made the right choice (to leave). I’m also glad it’s just an 18 months contract, seeing you in blue will pierce me everyday.
He would’ve been a great plan B. He’ll probably do well at Chelsea.
Fair enough. Chelsea under Conte is less hateable than under that other moron.
moronho
Helps that we keep kicking their arses
That’s so true! Man, I always just assume I hate Chelsea as much as any other club, so much that I haven’t even bothered in years checking with myself how much I hate them at any specific moment as the answer is always SO MUCH THAT I WISH ALL THEIR PLAYERS TO BE PLAGUED BY DEVASTATING SOUL-CRUSHING INJURIES. But your comment made me take a glance at the hate-o-meter and realise for the last year or so it’s been at least 20-30% lower than at any point under Mourinho for example. Of course it also helps they no longer feature… Read more »
Ahhh… Hate. The spice of footbal fan life.
Speaking of hate…was good to see that diving prick Delle Twatti getting booked for simulation today. But Lamela’s so called penalty …what a joke. Is that what it’s come to now? What a bunch of cheating diving wankers Spuds are. Classless.
It’s really a shame we don’t have the best looking footballer any more 🙁 what a gorgeous lump of a man he is.
I hope he severely disrupts the Chelsea by seducing all their wives.
He is no John Terry!
John Terry, the best looking footballer? Heh
We don’t need Giroud to morph into a disgustingly tall John Terry.
We just don’t need John Terry.
Luckily, as the Chelsea supporters have been known to sing, “there’s only one John Terry.”
He’s not a twat! HFB
No, John Terry is cunt.
Giroud is a beaut.
I just hope we sold him to Chelsea as a covert op to destroy their team.
Mushy! All the best to our HFB! It’s life. It happens.
Farewell, you beautiful beautiful man.
Such a good man, if any consolation he could still help us by putting some goals into the net of our direct rivals, however, he will really be missed.
Not to take a jab at Giroud but isn’t it the same competition he will get at Chelsea that he’ll probably get at arsenal? In fact he might actually be at a better advantage playing for us because he has a very different style from the two main men.. Personally I think dortmund would definitely have been a better option if he was looking for playing time.. I don’t really see Chelsea helping him in his world cup aspirations
I think staying in London was a big part of why he went to Chelsea over BVB or anywhere else. Also Morata hasn’t been in great form recently so the HFB probably thinks (and rightfully so) that he can be the main ST over there.
And probably Conte picks on form whereas Wenger decides once and then that’s it.
He will be living in the bench. Bad move for him.
Giroud is one of the few players that moved from Arsenal that I still have utmost respect for. For some players you can understand the move and it is a mutual decision (Vieira, Henry, Fabregas, Toure, Walcott). Some players I was glad to get rid as keeping them was becoming toxic (Anelka, Song, Hleb, Alexis). And Some players I hate for how they left and/or their behavior after leaving (Adebayor and Van Persie). Giroud will always get a great reception at Arsenal as he was a warrior for us and gave his all everytime he put the shirt on. Arsenal… Read more »
Sorry, but Cesc leaving the club was a decision he made… remember him pouting and going to an F1 race? Remember all the bullshit he said after leaving? I do.
But I could understand why Fabregas had to go to Barca. Its like Nelson goes to PSG now and in 5 years time becomes one of the best attacking players in the world….. If Arsenal said come back home and did everything to get him back, no one could begrudge him coming back to his home club, home town and home country and perform in front of all of his family and friends. I don’t hate Fabregas and I don’t love him either. Never wanted him back when there were rumours prior to him joining Chelsea. A number of the… Read more »
In my honest opinion i believe the club was showiing faith in both Alexis and Ozil but Alexis is the bigger player/game changer so more of a bargaining tool to get something out of the market. Ozil though is quite smart and just had to hold back a bit longer in order for Sanchez to leave then he can get his big money wages as Arsenal could not lose 2 players deemed to be ‘World Class’. Decades you say. He will really had to be much much more consistent than he is currently and start grabbing the game by the… Read more »
Ozil and Sanchez were equally important for Arsenal, and Ozil slightly edges him out simply because he makes our entire attack click. Without Ozil we can be really horrible. We’re also lucky that we have Mkhi now, if anything happens to Ozil we have a high-quality playmaker to take his place.
Same. I put myself in Cesc’s shoes.
It’s my hometown club, it’s my football idol coaching them and I get to play with the world’s best player.
Only wish he didn’t make such a fuss and lowered our bargaining power.
Brilliant points made Ice. Are you sure you are not the Ice Man himself?
I don’t recall anything toxic about the Anelka, Song or Hleb transfers. Two of them were the middle of summer, one was mid-August. None of them had been disruptive to the squad. None of them did a Nasri.
All three got their heads turned by dirty Barca/Madrid and started to become a nuisance within the squad (Anelka and Hleb were constantly sulking and Song became unprofessional in training etc). Later all three of them realised they were not as good elsewhere than what they were at the Arsenal.
Abelka was sulking the whole season. And let’s be fair if Barca or Real come calling, most people would go too. It’s not like these players are Arsenal fans.
Perhaps I don’t remember it all that well (entirely possible) but Hleb did t seem the kind to go toxic.
By the way Nasri is in the cunt list with Van Persie and Adebayor. And John Terry is the captain of that list.
Cashley Cole is high on the list of cunts too
Think we could have been better with him, but Conte must have convinced him he’d get playing time! Can’t fault Oli, he’ll be 35 next World Cup!
Cesc a mutual decision? That was a toxic situation. Song on the other hand i was rather happy for after having a debut with fans booing you (showed how far he had rose in the world of football).
Have you read why Adebayor left?
no need to explain mate, you have gone as far as you could at arsenal, good luck at chelsea
I have the utmost respect for Oli’s class and professionalism. It would pain me to see him in blue but he needed to seek greener pastures in light of the World Cup this summer. All the best to you, HFB.
From purely a personal point of view, would have loved to have kept both Giroud & Theo at the club – at least until the summer. Would hsve given us such a great attacking line up, options & variety. Especially important for us if we take Europa seriously (which we should). Difficult to plan against too with such diverse options, but not sure AW would have exploited that to full tatical advantage. I understand however, that that would affect playing time, & that plays a major role in a WC year (especially if it is to be a players last).… Read more »
There’s definitely a job for Danny in the prem. The confidence of a more serious regular starting role like what Theo’s done would probably help improve him.
Fair play to Giroud. He’s moved to Cuntski and yet the fans will still wish him all the best and sing his name when he returns to the Emirates. Thats the mark of a gentleman who always gave his best and treated the fans with true respect.
Nothing we don’t know. His situation not helped by Wenger adding on another striker from market (who is cup tied for Europa) So in a sense we also gave him the push too early. BUT he obviously prefers to hold his cards and options open which is why it is only 18 months on contract. Come the summer, he will reassess options in market after the Wcup with only one season left on contract with Chelsea. Meanwhile he gets to feature potentially in CL (which we can’t offer at the moment) and he gets to stay with his missus in… Read more »
It’s hardly news that Duchamp was the instigator of this. I understand HFB’s decision and hold no anger toward him but regardless of mitigating circumstances I’ll NEVER EVER be even remotely comfortable with him at Chelsea. For his role in this sorry affair Duchamp can get fucked!
Deschamps.
“A week before the end of the transfer window, I needed to hear his (Deschamps’) opinion,”
So he dictates what our players should do? I’d fucking lay him on his arse for that if I was Wenger.
“He didn’t encourage me to join Chelsea. But he encouraged me to change clubs.”
Someone seriously needs to put a foot up his cheese and garlic eating arse!
Violence and generalization. You sir are a treat!
And you sir are the one who’ll pop up for a snarky comment here and there but otherwise remains silent. I regard you not as much a treat as a troll.
With pleasure sir.
What do you mean? Wenger wanted Giroud to go, and he was okay with him going to Chelsea because Giroud’s family wants to stay in London.
Deschamps selects the team that goes to Russia this summer, and him andthe HFB obviously have a good relationship. The advice he gives him will obviously be in Giroud’s interest rather than Arsenal’s. If Wenger has decided to sell, why would he be angry at deschamps for looking out for Giroud?
From my interpretation Giroud was happy to stay at Arsenal until Deschamps started sabre rattling about losing his France spot if he didn’t move on.
You can think that’s OK or not. Maybe you do but I don’t.
Its in Frances interest for Giroud to go to the WC. It is in his interest also. To do so and be effective he needs to play. Deschamps is doing his job properly.
Sure but it’s in our interest to have him as a threat to bring on in the last 30 minutes when things don’t go to plan or when we need to rotate. He’s done very well like that and would have provided France with fresh legs and been every bit the effective goal scorer he was for us. But it’s the move to Chelsea that really irks me. We should have been able to keep him until the end of the season and then let him go. Bot NOT fucking Chelsea! For fucks sake ANYWHERE but there!!! Him staying to… Read more »
One more time: Dortmund would not sell us Aubameyang without a replacement; they wanted Batshuayi. Chelsea would not allow him to go to Dortmund unless they had a replacement; they wanted Giroud. If Giroud had been willing to go to Dortmund to replace Auba, then Chelsea would have been left out of it. But he was not willing to do so (as is his right) at least in part because of the disruption to his family, including a new baby. So, to get Aubameyang, we needed to let Chelsea have Giroud. That was the choice we had; all the rest… Read more »
Oli had got 2 cup competitions to play in. Surely two winners medals and a fresh Giroud is enough to go to the World Cup even for Deschamps?
But hey we have Rambo with all that “chaos he creates in our game” and my Mrs reckons he is more handsome than the french bloke. Wont miss him too much.
He did very well yesterday. When was the last time he played like that?
And for the record, I couldn’t be happier if what he’s doing works like it did yesterday. But for a long time it hasn’t. Hence my criticism.
My Mrs doesn’t like Giroud in the looks department at all. “Bad skin and his nose is too french.”.
Im maybe a bit too gratefull for two cup winning goals. A bit sympathetic about that smashed up leg, but when he is on form can make more difference than others. Lol poor oli even rambos beard is better.
I know he’s a fine player because I’ve seen it and that is what makes it all the more frustrating when he under performs. Whether that’s down to poor instruction or poor discipline is up for debate. I lean towards poor discipline but I’m not averse to the possibility of it being the other.
The twatsloch family do not like the french do they.
The Von Twatsloch’s actually have a long and very loving relationship with France. From the writers via the famous auteurs, actors, actresses and of course to the genius who was Serge Gainsbourg. Too many great names to mention even a few. And then their footballing tradition.
So no, wrong on all co0unts.
need to go to Specsavers too! Giroud is an absolute DISH!
Horses for courses though, isn’t it?
john terry is a cunt.
So is Deschamps!
no hard feeling for Oliver
I wish him all the best, great player and a true gunner! Hope he has a great World Cup if he makes it
Giroud can easily overcome the £70m Morata by scoring loads of goals.
miss him already
Good luck playing counter attack with him Conte… Prepare for another bench Olivier… Should’ve gone for some sun in Seville
Good luck Olly you done a great job for us and will always be appreciated as a true Gooner x
Great player, very loyal, and he scored some great fucking goals for Arsenal. I’ll miss Giroud bigtime.