Olivier Giroud has paid tribute to the Arsenal fans after calling time on his five and a half year spell at the Emirates.
The France international completed his move to Chelsea this afternoon in a deal reported to be worth around £18.5 million.
Taking to Twitter, Giroud wrote: “I spent five and a half amazing years within the arsenal family. This beautiful story ends today.
“Thank you for your warm welcome. I would like to especially thank the fans for their unconditional support upon my arrival.”
I spent five and a half amazing years within the arsenal family. This beautiful story ends today. Thank you for your warm welcome. I would like to especially thank the fans for their unconditional support upon my arrival #nananana #ThankYou pic.twitter.com/GofNGAi3pW
— Olivier Giroud (@_OlivierGiroud_) January 31, 2018
In a statement on the Arsenal.com, Arsene Wenger thanked Giroud for his commitment to the cause since signing in 2012.
“Oli is a guy who gave great service to the club, he never let us down on the commitment front and he saved us many times,” said Arsene Wenger.
“We signed him from Montpellier and he became a strong, regular international player for France, and we have gone together through good and bad. But always I believe that his behaviour has been top, top class.
“He always had his heart 100 per cent in the team and he was committed.”
🙁
Can’t believe he’s gone to Chelsea. Fuck sake. Can we stop shipping players off to our fucking rivals at some point soon.
Feels like our squad is flaunted round the premier league clubs like a food platter at a wedding or something.
Think it had something to do with not wanting to uproot his kids and wanted to stay in London so I understand why he would go to chelsea but it still hurts and makes me sick..he had his critics amongst our fans but he was an arsenal man and he loves the club. Good luck in your life Oli mate and please let this be an undercover agent kind of deal and he takes Chelsea down from within? .
West Ham’s in London…even Palace. Just saying…
West Ham and palace won’t take him to the champions league plus he’s got a more realistic chance of winning something with Chelsea than with those two.
For me, this is the saddest Arsenal departure since Henry…. That feeling of “no anger”, just sadness .
Goodluck Oli, twas nice that you came
And that’s where the club puts its foot down. “You want the game time to keep your France place but you don’t want to leave London for family reasons? OK, you’ve given us some good years and you’re a good egg so we will do our best to make that happen. Here are the options: West Ham or Palace, loan or sell. Take your pick. Chelsea? No, you will not go to that band of cunts under any circumstances. We have the solution to your problem. Want it or not?” But no, we sell him for a pittance to Chelsea… Read more »
Why didn’t we just play him when we needed to?. How many teams parked the bus and Arsene left Oli on the bench while we played crab like side to side shit with nothing happening. Arsene takes against players and can be almost spiteful when leaving them out, and bringing them on for ten minutes or something insulting. He froze out Bergkamp like that too. I hope Oli is happy and gets his trip to the Wolrld Cup. I think he’s been badly used.
Me to I haven’t been this sad since Thierry Henry left
That’s called having his cake and eating it.
Regular game time to play the WC – check
Family stays in London – check
Champions League/winning titles – NOT OUR PROBLEM!
This and squiggle’s comment below are right on. If everyone here loves the HFB so much, why is it so hard to accept that Wenger is doing Giroud a big favor by letting him to go to a place when he can make the best impression for what would be his final World Cup (instead of warming up the bench for Arsenal’s #1 and #2 biggest signings). We certainly don’t need 18 million pounds, but it’s hard to argue this isn’t an agreeable outcomes for all parties involved. As for those of you who think Giroud automatically slots in as… Read more »
You have your time, younger players come and do your job better than you. Such is the human condition and there’s little we can do to stem it. We had a choice not to sell our most experienced striker to Chelsea and we chose to do it anyway. We chose to handle it like cunts. We are cunts!
His not going to be a France Starter if Mbappe is on form. His role for France is exactly what it would be for Arsenal if we had the wherewithal to keep him…. Supersub brought on in the last half hour to rip apart a knackered defence. Not going to be convinced that we will not need him in the one competition that should truly matter to us now, the Europa League where PEA is cup-tied. Shot ourselves squarely in the foot let alone this being a sh*tty way for his story with us to end. Should have kept him… Read more »
This is all the doing of the current ‘director of football’ team. Be careful for what you wish for. In truth 1)we should be holding him to the summer where he would fetch a higher price 2) he should be in the squad till summer as he provides a different set of skills to break down entrenched opponents 3) he is not cup tied in europa unlike Aubameyang. If Lacazette suffers injury, its plan C Danny Welbeck. But the buying team want the ex-Dortmund deals done. Regardless of the fact we are being pushed a player close to past his… Read more »
You do talk absolute nonsense santori
Nah, you are among the top in that category, Ampadu.
His skills were never utilised.
Wenger does not know how to play with a t radiation all CF up front. He brought in Giroud in a rush to fill RVP’s place.
OBut he never considered building a team around Giroud. He went on to get Sanchez and Lacazette, because for Wenger, Giroud was always just a plan B.
Spam
How are you going to get a higher price in the summer when he will turn 32? Plus if he wants to stay in London he isn’t going anywhere else.
He doesn’t want to be here as the 3rd striker.
Past his prime? What world do you live in?
its just desperation from a desperate manager desperate to make a signing to cover the loss of Sanchez .. in the hope he wont be a complete Turkey like Lacca .. desperate !!!
A complete turkey like laca? F*ck off mate. He can finish, and runs are brilliant. Not his fault our midfield doesn’t function properly.
“unconditional support” hmm.. I guess now I know why we are under performing
I just don’t get it all this love and loyalty for an average striker.. Loyalty should be for the club not individuals and certainly not for a mediocre striker like giroud
Love & loyalty for the club must be unconditional.. But unconditional support for under performing players and a foolish manager is one of the reasons arsenal is so fu*ed up..
Cunts like you don’t help.
Price seems awful low given the length of his contract with us…. but then this is Arsenal.
Gutted to see him go.
He’s 31 so maybe why?
He was by far Chelsea’s best option out of three strikers. They need him, we didn’t need to sell. Therefore we should have taken them for every penny they have. They would have done it to us. Why are we so weak?
Of course we had to sell. Unless we did the deal we weren’t going to get Auba, so it’s a clear trade upwards for us.
Yet another Uncle Arsene deal – letting his favourite players pick and choose where to go and not worry about the price.
Loyalty in a world of harsh business or copping out on hard discussions with players daily?
That might have been the previous arrangement but with all these new hires for scouting and contracts, I doubt it, Cunto.
Where does it end? Sold to Liverpool, Sold to ManU, Sold to Chelsea. Is Spurs next?
the reversal from Sol to Arsenal would then be complete
Shocked and surprised we’ve let him go. Would have thought that if it had to be done then trying to get one of their players in return wouldn’t have been a bad idea? David Luiz seemed like such an obvious option. 18 million is so cheap for an international striker of his calibre
It’s returning the favour for the Cech deal. The only difference is Cech is clearly over the hill, while Giroud is a chiselled god amongst men.
This one cut me deep. Best of luck to him.
? I understand that it had to happen and why, but I’ll miss having him around. The only time I’ll wish a new Chelsea signing well. Hopefully the only time.
Why then? An honest question as i cannot see a reason. Do we really need this 18M now? What for. Will he enjoy more playing time in chelskis? Not sure. Would the whole deal with Aubameyang not go through otherwise? Fuck that (im looking st youd Demba Ba).
I’m saying this with absolutely no knowledge of the situation, but here is my take: Chelsea needed a striker. They possibly had an outside chance to buy Aubameyang with Batshuayi thrown in. If that’s the case Chelsea might have used that to bargain down Giroud’s price. Maybe.
Of course, had Arsenal paid the asking price to begin with it perhaps could have been done without the Chelsea business. Who knows.
I’m sad to see Giroud go. And to Chelsea of all places. But I suspect we are still strengthened by this. Also relative to Chelsea.
What I don’t understand is why Chelsea didn’t just go directly for Aubameyang. They have the money to cut us out. Instead they rent out Bashuayi (who has scored more goals than our last ‘world class’ purchase Lacazette) and get Giroud for nothing. he would have gone in the summer for a lot more for the club but they pushed him and the deal through bc they had a lot riding on these ex-contacts of theirs. The Director of football should be called into question but Arsenal fans are too daft to be critical. They can only think that if… Read more »
The “director of football operations”, or whatever he is called, does not officially start until tomorrow. I guess he is already your fall guy.
AW got Vieira before he came onboard too. So what’s your point?
He’s goign to be 32 next season. His market is small. You live in crazy world
Mahrez for 40-50M? Riiiiiight
I’m pretty sure the Aubameyang deal would have been a lot trickier. They might have found someone else suitable to go to Dortmund but time could easily have run out. At Chelsea he’s only really competing against Morata rather than Aubameyang and Lacazette, and maybe not even that. I’ve read that Conte will want to use him alongside Morata as Llorente was at Juventus. The 18 million probably isn’t vital and the team could have kept him – but (among everything else) I think this points to the fact that Arsene Wenger is a decent man and Arsenal are a… Read more »
Loan him to West Ham or Palace. He’d have all the game time in the world there. Why was that option ruled out?
Did they make an offer?
The Auba deal
You finally find what you’ve been looking for and as you bend over to pick it up, someone kicks you right in the nuts.
I too cannot understand why it “had to happen”. Why it has happened – perhaps & just maybe…But HAD to happen? We’ve been mugged pure & simple.
FECK
Noooooooooo
This never ends
He’s surprisingly good at photoshop.
All the best Oli. You’ve been great!
Become WC!
I’m very upset about this
Thanks for the goals, the hair and the beard too. Shame we couldnt give you a better service to compliment your attributes. Step down to the small club in fulham.
it’s just 1 step forward and 1 step back for Arsenal this transfer period. 65 goals last season (Walcott, Giroud, and Sanchez) all sold to rival EPL clubs…
Best of luck Giroud, I hope to see you playing for France at the WC.
this one hurts more than Sanchez….
Far more than Sanchez. I think we all accepted from the start that Sanchez was mostly here for Sanchez, didn’t really have anything to prove as a player either, and simply accepted the end product as recompense for not necessarily bleeding Arsenal red. Giroud had plenty to prove, especially after skying the ball from nearly halfway on his debut and such, and grew on us much like Koscielny. And it did feel eventually like we had a fan out there on the pitch.
We’ve sold four out in Alexis, Coquelin, Giroud and Walcott We brought in two. One is a player older and low in confidence into our team brimming with confidence at the moment The other in a position we already have similar player for who has yet to gel. Now we pay this bloke from Germany a huge pay package and he’s already acted up out there because their 6th spot does not meet his ambition. I don’t think he’s thought it through himself when he finds we are in similar position and he can’t play europa. Complains about Alexis and… Read more »
You’re racist if you think Aubameyang and Lacazette are similar players.
I fear you’re replying to the wrong person, as your comment is a bit of a non-sequitur to mine, but I do see your concerns. You’ve used a lot of collective pronouns about pace, “new Henry” and people being misled. I can’t speak for anyone else but truth be told, I’m jaded overall, and more than anything I’m waiting to be surprised. My biggest/only cheer of the day has been about the Ozil news; this about Giroud is close to depressing, and with Aubameyang I figure that’s that for Lacazette’s World Cup chances – half a season of a potentially… Read more »
Completely agree eddymc2. Feel so lost with AW that all I want is for him to go. Will we improve? Who knows. There are clearly some very deep issues at the club. But it’s also time to find out what else is out there. AW is broken , & there’s no fixing that.
Absolutely gutted
Man. The only other attacking option we had apart from crab passes was to lump it in for Giroud.
Now we are even more one dimensional.
As excited as I am for the new signings, I really loved this guy. My eyes welled up a bit.
Dear Ollie,
I wish you all the best. Hope you score in all your future matches but at the same time end up in the losing side..
Here’s hoping he’s Chelski’s leading scorer for the next few seasons, but at the same time they finish 7th all of those years. But his performances will be so good he’ll be picked as the starter for France, score 10 goals during the WC and win it for France.
I’m not crying, you’re crying
It’s just something in my eye
?
I haven’t been so sad to lose an Arsenal player since I cant remember when. It was a joy to sing your song!
Beautiful .. Your words.. and HFB
Sadder than when Bambi died
amazingly that’s us back into transfer profit for the 2017/2018 season..counting last summers activities with this month.
Bonkers.
Wow it’s pretty dusty in here, don’t mind me that’s just my allergies acting up. :'(
I am gonna miss Giroud. I never hated the guy. He was always committed and was a genuinely nice person. So many fans, old players, pundits slated but he never gave up, never sulked.
I hope he does well.
I wanted those ITKs I mentioned in the previous comments to be right and apparently they were but I hoped this bit wasn’t.
Still gonna love Giroud even if he plays for Chelsea
Why such a short contract?
So he can come back home next year.
Chavski policy for players over 30
Its temporary. It works for hi as he wants to stay in London (well the wife does)
And he gets to play CL and back in the running for France ahead of the Wcup (there is a reason Deschamp prefers Giroud to Lacazette)
Then he still has good value and Chelsea will sell him for more than 18m probably in the summer to Italy or off shore.
We’re the only losers in the deal because we have to accommodate the hard on Mslintat has for ex-Dortmund players
Thanks giroud….u’ll always be remembered.
I will like to see this team:
Cech…. Musta Kozzer Nacho…Hector Niles Wilshire Kolas…Mikhi Ozil Auba
Musta, Kozzer, Hector and Cech all out of that team next… here’s hoping
wtf. Hector is not the problem on this team. I think he would fetch almost as much as Ozil on the open market
What does Hector do? Doesn’t attack well. Doesn’t defend well. He’s only quick, but what’s the point when all you do is pass the ball back rather than running into the empty space ahead of and, God forbid, actually sending a cross into the box, because, you know, that’s where the goal is…
We’ve now sold/exchanged player with… Man u Chelsea Liverpool Everton Not to mention those sold abroad It’s like we’re just getting players of the books and don’t give a shit where they go! after years of hanging on to anyone with a pulse. It’s some major change of attitude and this squad is being ripped apart which ain’t such a bad thing if you look at how they’ve struggled in the league for years now. But to strengthen the above teams is by no means a good thing. I can’t believe this is being sanctioned by wenger they must be… Read more »
They want to get rid of them with no thought to resale value for the club or strategic implications (strengthening direct rivals to CL) or tactical implications. Because they want to move their ex-Dortmund assets. Mhkitaryan was forced on us because we were not aggressive enough with City. We were too ready to except United and they dictated terms but some in our buying team had vested interest you feel. And Aubameyang is an asset we already just added with Lacazette. Cup tied, loss of Giroud, never mind. Fans will be fooled by the stats just like with Lacazette and… Read more »
agressive enough with City?
How do you do that?
You say oi city take Sanchez right now even though he won’t agree personal terms with you. If you don’t take him we will errrrrrr….
Santori mate, you’ve lost your marbles.
This is the saddest I’ve been to lose a player since Paul Merson.
Rocky for me. Never understood why we let Rocky go and still dont
Secretly he’s probably happy to go to Chelsea. a) He will now play CL footy and work his way back into France set up for the world cup. b) He won’t be struggling with us in europa. Never mind Aubameyang is cup tied for Europa. Never mind strengthening yet another direct rival for CL spot. Now watch him score the goal that denies us the CL spot. Lets push Giroud out of the door and sell him for a paltry 18m when he would fetch way more in the summer. Well done Mslintat. There is a reason why Deschamp started… Read more »
Pacy?! Did they sell him to us as pacy? He looks like he’s running in quicksand.
Yeah of course Deschamps wants to use a target striker. France has soo much competition for spots.
Who is going to pay more for a striker who is going to turn 32 next season? What world do you live in?
OG is going to the WC. OG is going to have a fantastic WC, as will France – mark my words. We would have been wiser to keep him on playing ability alone. We would have got more in the summer if he had then had to be sold. We loose all round & this is a duff deal.
Hoped wenger would play him and alex together this season . We could have had a wonderful season if not for Arsene losing his grip in coaching and managing the club.
This wasnt suppose to happen.
Completely agree. This is completely the fault of AW. He now has to go.
“This beautiful story ends today.” This puts a lump in my throat…..
The most upset I have been about transfers for years. Giroud is and will always be a legend. Where is the loyalty we often hear about? Pushed out for what? to your direct rivals as well. What a bloody mess, on pitch and off it. At least Ozil staying might stop us gettting relegate this season
I hate thiiiiiis 🙁
One of those players you could tell genuinely wanted to do their best for the club. Sadt!
This is sad. He’s better than Lacazette and even if you don’t think so at least he is different to Lacazette.
Aubameyang is also different than Lacazette and Aubameyang is better than Giroud
Giroud’s wearing blue and now I’m blue…
?
Probably the first and only time I wouldn’t take an instant and violent dislike to one of ours signing for that classless bunch of twats. In fairness OG does not have any choice if he wants game time, and as a rehabilitated family man he’s made the best choice for him. Wish him well. But fuckig hate Chelsea.
Ozil signs. Fantastic news. Just need a top keeper and a few decent defenders and we are sorted.
…and someone to coach the defense.
Sad times.
We’re so completely inept at transfers FFS.
AFC – “Dortmund, we want to buy your top goal scorer & we’ll pay 20m”.
BDFC – “Whoa…no way! 60m minimum”
AFC – “Hmmm ok we’ll think about it & get back to you” (a week later) “ok deal”
Chelsea – “Arsenal, we want to buy your top goal scorer & we’ll pay 19m”
AFC – “Deal! We were only looking for 15m…pffft mugs”
Good luck Giroud. I wish you well. You were fantastic for the club, & the move is our loss not yours.
Dammit….why do I feel worse than when we lost Sanchez?!?
I feel he had a very genuine affection for Arsenal and his effort always shone through.
Came across as unselfish and a real team player.
Ultimately, he’ll always be an Arsenal man.
I’m not going to be like many hypocrites on here…I slagged him off as much as the next guy, but never for lack of trying….unlike the twats on show last night.
I wish he wasn’t leaving, and even more, I wish he wasn’t going there.
Gutted but all the best to you, Oli. Just don’t score against us.
NO! should have not let him go!
Always backed him, always believed in him. He was our soldier, who would catch a grenade for us ! Never thought I would feel the level of heartbreak as Henry leaving…this is especially painful because he was perfectly happy with us. He did it for us so that we could have another striker ! OOzes class, OOzes Arsenal ! Will always be a Gunner within ! I Salute you Monsieur Giroud !
SuperG
Merci !
and Bon Chance !
If he wanted to stay in London couldn’t we have sold him to Crystal Palace or Leyton Orient or somewhere in between? I will really miss Giroud, he was one of my favorites; always wore the shirt with pride and left everything on the field.
I feel like he never got the respect he deserved from the media, and unfortunately I think that was down a lot because of our constant lack of properly challenging for the Top 4.
We really need to stop selling to our rivals (direct, or indirect) whenever they come a-knocking for our guys.
Within one season, Ox, Giroud, Alexis, Coquelin, Gabriel, Theo, all out. Major squad transformation before our very eyes. Scary and emotional, but in my view change 100% welcome. We are making up for years of inertia in just one season.
Finally, somebody has said something sensible. Well said Brendan.
For years people have complained that we’re too nice to our players and should move them on. When we do everybody gets teary eyed and says its wrong.
Can you imagine the reaction if Chel$ki or the spuds had bought Aub? We’d all be up in arms about the shite players we have while others strengthen. Cant win.
Finally a sensible comment in this thread.
Good bye oil you were my hero
What a betrayal by the club! Fuck this!
“Slow,” “Can’t win titles with players like Giroud,” “Sell Giroud!” “Wenger has lost it, City have Aguero, Team X has so and so, we are stuck with Giroud!”
Blah blah blah, the amount of ridicule, sometimes outright disrespect, and lack of gratitude towards his years of great service to the Arsenal from “fans” is appalling. Now Giroud is out, I feel for Aaron Ramsey, he’s probably next to shoulder the heavy bags of venom.
A much maligned player ( a lot of fans coming out now upset that he’s gone now I see) with a genuinely likable personality. His contributions will be missed.
All the best Oli.
Good luck Olivier – true Gunner ?
No you fool! Our beautiful story never ends! Remember, once a gunner, always a gunner ?
Go ahead and destroy chelski and be back to where you belong. #nanana
I’m not happy to see him go, but I’m happy to see Arsenal do something different in the transfer market. If this is the start of something…