When the pre-season preparations of Arsenal began a few weeks ago, with most of the squad jetting off to Australia first and then China, it was a little bit of a surprise to see the recently signed France international star Alexandre Lacazette go with them.
The former Lyon striker was not supposed to be fit and, to be fair, he did not really look up to speed, even though he scored just 15 minutes or so after coming on for his Arsenal debut. Lacazette has been getting sharper and settling in ever since and is starting to get the Arsenal fans rubbing our hands about how his movement and finishing in front of the creative brilliance of Gunners like Ozil will help us challenge for a major trophy or two this season.
Perhaps that is why our other French forward Olivier Giroud now seems happy to stay at Arsenal; this season, because he looked anything but happy earlier on and appeared to not even want anything to do with our new signing. That is kind of understandable because Lacazette is a rival for Giroud’s first team role but all players want to win things as well as play.
For me this explains the report by The Mirror which reveals that the French club Marseille have given up on signing the big man this summer because he does not want to go.
Do you think Giroud is happy to stay and play second fiddle because he feels Arsenal can challenge for the Premier League title?
Sam P.