Arsenal: Olivier Giroud hard line shows desperation not reached

Arsenal have told the world that Olivier Giroud is not for sale, meaning that Arsene Wenger is by no means desperate. He is calculated.

Arsenal seemed to be at a crossroads with Alexandre Lacazette, where Lyon wanted to identify a replacement for their star man before they let him depart. The simple and most obvious solution was just to swap Giroud, pay a small fee, and take Lacazette, which Jean-Michel Aulas admitted to pursuing.

This was a terrible idea. It would leave the club with all of zero proven Premier League strikers. Always a perilous situation, that.

However, that fear is quickly dissipating, as a suddenly transparent Aulas has also admitted that he was informed that Olivier Giroud was not for sale. He even added, as a means to deaden the rebuff, “we don’t want to stockpile forwards.”

That’s good news. Not only does it mean that we will retain the crucial service of the big, bearded, French wonder, but it also means that Wenger has not succumbed to utter desperation. Then again, I don’t think anything could push Wenger there.

Yes, Arsenal need a striker like Lacazette, who can be depended on week in and week out to put goals away in a fairly quick and orderly fashion. It’s been needed for years now. But if the key to landing him was sacrificing the only forward who has proven to be capable of scoring goals regularly, then the answer had to be no – unless that desperation was there.

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It would be a huge risk. Massive. Lacazette for Giroud might work out if Lacazette picks off right where he left off with Lyon, but there is nothing guaranteeing that. And it’s clear that the Gunners didn’t need that.

Wenger switching to the 3-4-2-1 was attributed to being a “desperation” move and that might be fair, but it’s nice to see that he isn’t in complete and total desperation mode, to the point where he has thrown caution to the wind. Maintaining hold of Giroud isn’t a show of stubbornness or anything like that. It’s an understanding of the risk involved and a calculated move to retain what we know works.

Thankfully, Bertrand Traore moved from Chelsea to Lyon and that man is, indeed, a striker. So that could damn well be a replacement, as Traore is still rated very highly. He should also consider himself lucky to escape the Chelsea loan system.

Next: Arsenal's Potential 2017/18 Starting XI Without Ozil, Alexis

Arsenal will get Lacazette. And with his and Giroud’s power combined, the world is ours.

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