I cannot help but feel a bit sorry for the Arsenal and France international forward Olivier Giroud, as despite an excellent goal record for club and country the big man always seems to be under fire from some quarters and never seems to be a first choice for the starting line-up, which is why the Frenchman is the most likely to move on in the summer transfer window if the Arsenal transfer rumours about Alexis Sanchez staying at least one more year are true.
With The Mirror reporting that our Chilean striker is ready to give the Gunners another chance to prove that the club’s ambition and desire for trophy success matches his own, the onus on Arsene Wenger or his replacement will be to use the transfer market to prove it and to build a squad that will give Arsenal the ammunition we need for next season.
While you could say that our attacking strength has not been the problem this season, you would think that another top class striker to complement Alexis would be on the cards and it seems clear that Wenger does not see Giroud as a prime option.
So with The Daily Express reporting the news from France that Marseille are planning to launch a transfer bid for Giroud this summer, I do not rate our centre forward’s chances of still being at Arsenal next season very highly, do you?
Bob.
If it was up to me I would keep Giroud as a CF and buy Lacazette for that role as well, sell Welbeck, Akpom, Perez.
It wouldn’t be a perfect front 3 but Alexis/Lacazette/Theo could prove to be a very good attack, if Theo keeps his scoring boots.
Lacazette and Giroud as 2 main CF competing for the spot.
If we are to convince Alexis to stay then I think the CM and wings are areas we would need to strengthen along with LB as well as upgrade the CF options.
Theo is having a good season but as I have pointed out, he does tend to have 1 good then 1 bad season, we need a RW who will push Theo and replace him if his form does dip or eventual injury.
Dream world I would like Dybala, he has done well for Juve since his move and he could provide a strong attacking option on the right so it isn’t so easy to mark Alexis out the game, we would be able to switch sides easier and stretch oppositions with possession.
A front 3 of Alexis/Lacazette/Dybala and I would put that up against any EPL team and sit back with confidence when it came to the final 3rd.
For CM, Kante would have been a dream to play alongside Xhaka but Gueye has done well and could be a player with EPL experience and raid Lyon again for Tolisso, he seems eager to join us and has done well the past couple years, young as well so also good for the future. Keep Cazorla as well but he we can’t rely on him staying fit. That would be 2 new B2B to partner either Xhaka or ElNeny in CM (ElNeny can be played as a def type), get ox to sign a new contract. 6 CM
Sell Wilshere/Ramsey/Coquelin
LB… Some might say no but why not go for Luke Shaw? He would help with HG and he wants out of UTD, rumors are he wants to go to the spuds to meet up again with the manager there but that would make the signing sweeter… He has potential if people haven’t forgotten his pre UTD time and have I mentioned how sweet it would be to pinch a player in a transfer right from under the spuds nose XD
I know this wont happen unless I play football manager tho 🙂
You are suggesting total overhaul of our squared and you omitted Mr. Wenger. Giroud is more useful to Arsenalfc than Mr. Wenger.
A well thought out and argued piece of writing. I agree 100%
It’s not long since Giroud signed a new contract, which tells us the intentions of the club, and Wenger. Would seem strange to go back on that, and sell him only six months later. Especially at Arsenal, where it seems to take an eternity for anything to happen.
I would guess that if a forward has to go it would be Lukas – not that he has done badly, he has done rather well in fact. It’s just that he doesn’t seem to be in the Wenger ‘in’ crowd … shoots too much directly on goal and doesn’t pass sideways and back enough evidently …
While we on the matter … what a total farce on contract renewal, even the spuds seem to have got that sorted out – renewing long before time, and not paying out hefty wages either – I believe Kane is their top earner on £125k, and for someone with an economic degree, how does Wenger not understand that having someone with a long contract makes not only financial sense, but sense in terms of the teams stability as well?
Wenger is staying, hes even become rather smug about it. some fans deserve it others dont
Perez is better than Theo, Ramsey, Welbeck (do I really need to go on?). He should definitely stay! Only Wenger knows why he doesn’t play him!
Touch not my Giroud! The guy has been thru a lot of criticism but always strong and ready to roll..Apart from Sanchez i dont c any other player who gives his all like Giroud.
true that, im actually a fan of giroud, he is actually a really good striker and will be useful next season to use as a back up plan to teams who defend deep.
We have to many average to decent forwards and not enough Top quality
Giroud, Theo, Lucas, Walcott, Ox, Campbell, Iwobi, Akpom, Sanogo are not Top quality
Walcott makes World Class wages though. Just £20,000 less than Lewandowski
Alexis is our only WC forward and we need at least one more
Or at least scores and performs better than the ones we have
I like Giroud but if he wants out let him go. You can see he doesn’t like being a back up and he is not good enough to lead the line. Let him go somewhere where he can be the main man and bring in Lacazette , he is the type off player we need