Arsenal: Olivier Giroud situation means one of two things for Aubameyang

Arsenal’s pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is being Arsenaled up. But at the very least, Olivier Giroud’s situation gives us a definite or two.

Arsenal have been in talks with Borussia Dortmund over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for some time now and it’s starting to get a lot of people worried that the club is nickel-and-diming the German outfit in the hopes that they can get the hit man for cheaper that they are asking.

Which is all entirely unnecessary, but I digress.

One of the perceived cogs in the situation was Olivier Giroud. According to numerous reports, Dortmund wanted Giroud on a six-month loan to cover for the loss of their star man. This request has since been categorically ruled out. Giroud will absolutely not go the other way.

This might seem like a bad thing, like the Gunners aren’t willing to work with Dortmund. And that’s possible. Not being willing to deal Giroud may be a deal breaker. But that is just one of two possible situations that the Giroud refusal brings up.

There is also the possibility that the Gunners have managed the best possible outcome and secured Aubameyang without losing the Frenchman, who is the ultimate plan B.

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I know we all say that we’d happily see Giroud go the other way and I won’t fault that line of thinking. But if you stick Alexandre Lacazette and Aubameyang in the same starting XI, which you basically have to do, then you are still going to need a plan B, a separate recourse if things don’t go according to plan.

Giroud is that plan B. It had been established just last week that Giroud and Aubameyang were two completely separate deals. One did not impact the other. Now, the reports have been all over the place in this transfer saga, so it’s hard to know for sure, but at the very least, we now have one definite from a transfer saga devoid of such things. We know that Giroud isn’t leaving.

Which means that we can move forward and worry about the cash deal without worrying about losing a serious weapon in Giroud. Getting Aubameyang at the cost of Giroud would be two steps forward and one back, but keeping Giroud on staff and boasting three strikers, all of different qualities, that is something special.

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So don’t beat yourself up too much about the Giroud deal being off. Yeah, it may mean that landing Aubameyang may be tougher, but there is no guarantee of that. It could just as easily mean that the deal is moving forward and it simply won’t involve Giroud.

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