Why Arsenal are sticking with Giroud by Sam P.
The final decision on the future of the Arsenal and France international centre forward Olivier Giroud does not lie with his agent, of course, but you would think that Michael Manuello would have a fairly good idea where things stand with his client and his role with Gunners.
And he seems to be pretty sure that Giroud will be playing for Arsenal once again next season, as a report by The Mirror explains, and the agent was totally dismissive of the recent Arsenal transfer rumours that suggested that the big Frenchman was going to be going in the opposite direction if Arsene Wenger could seal the deal to bring Gonzalo Higuain to the Premier League from Italy’s Serie A club Napoli.
Manuello said, “Everything I’ve read on the Giroud is not true. I personally have only said that if Arsenal want to sell him, then we will see.
“I do not know where [the Napoli story] came from.
“We never talked to them and there are no other people appointed over me that can do this. We need to clarify this.
“You always need two strikers, [injured Danny] Welbeck is out for nine months unfortunately. And it’s quite normal. If you play in a great team, it is natural that we could face strong competition.”
While it is not always a good idea to believe what a footballer’s agent says I think we can this time. Not only are his comments about a big club needing options up front very true, it is clear that our manager sees Giroud as an integral part of the Arsenal team and our style of play.
Arsenal fans may sometimes be down on our main striker, mainly due to his lack of pace and his missing of some good chances, but most of us can appreciate what he does for team on the whole. And if Wenger is determined to stick with his tactics of having a target man and a centre forward that can link the play and bring the likes of Ozil and Ramsey into play then it is hard to see why he would abandon Giroud.
We may think that different types of forwards like Griezmann and Higuain are better but who else is there we could get to do the same job that is better than Giroud?
Sam