Olivier Giroud scored over 100 goals for Arsenal in his five years at the club, but he was gradually eased out of the starting XI to make room for Alexis Sanchez a couple of seasons ago. Then in the summer Alexandre Lacazette was brought in and Oli was pushed into our Europa League and Caraboa Cup sides and saw his chances of going to the World Cup with France receding into the distance.
But in January, Wenger went even one step further and brought in another centre-forward in Aubameyang and Giroud was suddenly cast as Arsenal’s third-choice striker. No matter how bad we think he is, he is surely too good to just get an occasional League Cup game. He had started nearly all of our Europa League games, but he would even probably have only been on the bench at lowly Ostersund if Lacazette had been fit to play….
But Olivier finally actually got a bit of luck with Arsenal going all out to buy Aubameyang from Dortmund, as the Frenchman was given the opportunity to move to Chelsea, and I bet he can’t believe his luck. He was quoted as saying: ‘I went to see the coach to ask him where he was with Aubameyang. I put him under a bit of pressure, like my agent, who I spoke to several times a day. It is normal. I did not want to be deprived of going to Chelsea which was the best solution for me,’
‘The coach immediately said to me: “Don’t worry, I will do my best so that you are happy”. On one side, it was normal. I had never asked to leave.’
But how happy must he be that he finally got out of Arsenal? Instead of being on the bench in Ostersund, he is instead stepping out this evening against the mighty Barcelona at Stamford Bridge and is back playing in the elite competition after scoring his first goal for the Blues against Hull on Friday. If he continues to play well and regularly he will be going to the World Cup in the summer too.
Maybe he got the best deal in the January transfer window?
Darren N