Arsenal: Realization has set in that Olivier Giroud pulled a van Persie

Arsenal had a trooper in Olivier Giroud, but they sold him in pursuit of glory, Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud is searching for his own, easier-to-obtain glory.

In case you’re wondering, no, I still haven’t gotten over the fact that Olivier Giroud now plays for Chelsea, primarily coming off of the bench like he was for Arsenal. In my humble opinion, that is not okay and it should have been avoided at all costs.

But it’s over now, so now we have to move on, even if that hurts (because it always will).

The reason why I am revisiting this is because Giroud has spoken out about his one “regret” from his time at Arsenal. This regret being that he was unable to win a title with the Gunners, but, according to him, that’s all behind him now because now he can win one with Chelsea.

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It set in, while reading his comments about winning the league with Chelsea, that what Giroud has done is like a less volatile Robin van Persie to Manchester United. Both Giroud and van Persie toiled away at the Emirates for years on years and neither ever emerged with a Premier League title.

Of course, there are key differences. I don’t think Giroud would have left if it wasn’t absolutely necessary (I’ll ignore the fact that I don’t think it was absolutely necessary). Van Persie openly wanted to leave.

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Van Persie was also our golden boy, whereas Giroud had faded to a substitute.

That said, both were self-proclaimed “Arsenal men” and both will undoubtedly still claim that when their careers are over.

These differences may cast two different lights, but to me, it’s in their one similarity that they are both so tough to stomach – they are/were both, almost undoubtedly, in a better position to win the league with direct rivals than they were with Arsenal. Van Persie proved that and, as much as I hate to admit this, it’s looking similar for Giroud.

And what makes this even worse with the Giroud situation, if I even need to say it again? The fact that Giroud is still a substitute at Chelsea, barring any changes with Alvaro Morata.

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I get that we got Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but early returns have me asking a lot of questions regarding how all of this went down and whether it really needed to or not.