Arsenal: Antoine Griezmann Must Choose – Giroud Or Pogba?

Arsenal are not the only suitors of Antoine Griezmann. The entire world probably wants him, but the Frenchman has two leading options – join Giroud or Pogba.

I used to have this longstanding belief that it was only a matter of time before Antoine Griezmann joined Arsenal. The cards just all seemed stacked in that scenario’s favor. His international partnership with Giroud, his relationship with Arsene Wenger and the fact that he wants to come to the Premier League.

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Not to mention his skill set, which would fit in masterfully at the Emirates.

But then his statements about wanting to play with Paul Pogba came into the picture and all of a sudden, it was a two horse race. Arsenal vs Manchester United. But United had their champion – Paul Pogba.

The Gunners had not had anyone come to the call of wanting to unite with Griezmann. At least not until recently. Olivier Giroud has identifed the one Frenchman he would love to play alongside on a club level – the man of the article, Antoine Griezmann.

So what we have here is a duel of two scenarios. Would Griezmann rather team up with Pogba at a volatile situation at United or come to North London, where his international striking mate is?

Without more conversation with the man, it’s hard to discern what would suit him better. Mainly because we have no idea when such a move would even happen. And that is what this would all depend on.

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However, the main factor that this would depend on is Arsenal’s – mainly Arsene Wenger’s – ability to accommodate him.

I’m speaking of a two striker system.

If Giroud is going to be the champion of this campaign, which is, again, purely hypothetical, then the whole point is pairing him with Griezmann, not having them as competitors. They made it work for the French national team and they’d make it work at the Emirates.

But this would displace Mesut Ozil from his cushy No. 10 role and force him to either move wide or take on many more defensive responsibilities.

So as much as it pains me, given a shift in policy or a veering away from Giroud, I believe that Pogba and United have the upper hand. Mourinho will kow-tow to the needs of a flashy new signing and sticking Griezmann next to Zlatan follows the same principle as sticking him next to Giroud.

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Don’t ever give up though. Griezmann can be a Gunner yet.