Arsenal: Selling Olivier Giroud Makes No Sense

Arsenal are rumored to be looking at an overhaul, but there is absolutely no point in Olivier Giroud making way for essentially nobody.

Arsenal’s summer is apparently going to be very active. Numerous reports out there are indicating that there may be up to a nine-man overhaul. The obvious members of that overhaul are Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky and Per Mertesacker. There is very little room for mass complaints against departures like that.

The one rumored departure that should have many raised eyebrows is Olivier Giroud. Olivier Giroud isn’t exactly pulling a lot of favor in the Arsenal world in the here and now. However, no matter where his current favor level sits, his quality simply cannot be denied. At least not when he is clicking.

Let’s be clear about one thing: Olivier Giroud is worth keeping around just for those streaks where he is clicking. Nobody goes on fiercer streaks than our hulking Frenchman. In the past two years, he may have finished the season with pretty standard striker numbers, but keep in mind that those numbers were the result of one streak per season where he left every striker in the world in the dust (including Messi and Ronaldo).

However, he still cannot keep those streaks going consistently.

But that by no means indicates that he should be sold. Arsenal’s striker crop is thin enough. There is already a likelihood of somewhere around zero that Wenger will sign a big name striker. Forgive me for thinking this, but I’m still not comfortable with just Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott as our strikers.

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Since we are on the topic of strikers for sale, who exactly could Wenger buy this summer, realistically? Zlatan is rumored to be coming to town, but there are numerous factors still to be addressed in terms of that rumor having any sort of viability. Aside from that, Cavani is finally getting his coveted No. 9 spot. Lewandowski would cost a monster sum and he probably isn’t even for sale.

Who else is there? There are some lesser known quantities being linked, such as Arkadiusz Milik and Breel Embolo, but do you trust them more than Giroud? The knee-jerk impulse is to say yes, but deep down, the answer is no.

Giroud has proven himself capable of being a part of this Arsenal team. He may have these funks, but that’s what having a second striker is all about. Just because Arsenal finally have that second striker (hopefully) doesn’t mean that they have to sell the first one. What good would that serve? Then they are back to square one, with an inconsistent striker (Welbeck) and a back-up of Walcott’s quality.

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Olivier Giroud is an Arsenal man. He still has so much to give this club. Arsene Wenger may once have had a knack for selling players around Giroud’s age to ‘cash in’ but that policy seems to have passed. Keep the Frenchman. Arsenal is going to need him.

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