As well as making it clear that he would rather not spend most of his time sitting on the Arsenal bench next season, the France international star Olivier Giroud will be aware that he is about to be on the wrong side of 30 and may not have too many years left at the top of the game.
That is why I feel that money will still be a factor in his future. Even though a player may rather be playing and be playing in competitions like the Champions League or the Europa League, they also want to maximise their earnings so it is rare to see a modern footballer decide to take a pay cut if he does not have to.
Normally you would assume that this would give big clubs like Arsenal an advantage over the others even with all the TV money that you get in the English Premier League. According to a report in The Mirror, however, West Ham are very keen to sign the big centre forward this summer and are prepared to offer him a pay rise to join them, despite the fact that Giroud only recently signed a new Arsenal contract worth £120,000 a week.
That new deal does give Arsene Wenger and the Gunners a lot of power to hold on to the striker if we so desire but you cannot get around the fact that it is not good to keep a player against their wishes and this big wage offer from across London could just turn Giroud’s head.
Sam P.