Kevin Prince-Boateng, Pedro and the Arsenal Transfer Rumors We Don’t Want to See Happen

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Mario Mandzukic

The ‘lack of appeal’ from this rumor may stem from my passionate support of Olivier Giroud, But there’s more to it than just being a blind fan. For starters, Mandzukic is pretty much just a physically smaller Giroud.

Mandzukic has a fantastic goal-scoring record, scoring .45 per appearance, just slightly higher than Giroud’s .43. But Mandzukic has never made the journey to an English team, and that makes me nervous. Given that it’s the “Premier League” and that everyone is just clamoring to get there, why hasn’t the Croatian? Inevitably, players goal-scoring tallies fall off when they come to England, it’s just a different style of play. While I don’t think Mandzukic would fall off that much, it would still take the hit.

There are only two scenarios where Mandzukic would come to Arsenal: to replace Giroud, or to play alongside Giroud. Neither one makes sense to me.

To replace him would mean that we sold the big Frenchman for a smaller striker who does the same thing. That wouldn’t make much sense, plus it’d mean I’d have to mutter “na na na naaaa, Giroud” with tears streaming down my face forevermore.

To play alongside Giroud would mean that we have two strikers of very similar skill sets and of the same age, one proven in the EPL and bigger, the other unproven and smaller. That doesn’t quite jive with me either. If we’re going to get another striker, let’s get either someone who’s younger (Paulo Dybala, Alvaro Morata) or someone with a different skill set, like a speedy/technical striker.

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