Arsenal: Sorry Chelsea, Olivier Giroud’s blood isn’t blue

Olivier Giroud had himself a time at Arsenal, but just because he has spent a year at Chelsea doesn’t mean that his blood is suddenly blue.

Arsenal‘s approaching Europa League final is hitting the airwaves for all kinds of reasons. You’ve certainly heard the ridiculousness with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the confirmation that UEFA is, in fact, an awful organization.

But you might also be hearing some other awfulness – that Olivier Giroud‘s blood is “now blue.”

Yeah, that’s not true. That’s something a player says because he’s feeling particularly passionate, or because he wants to ensure that he is allowed to carry on in his personal campaign, even when facing the club that is truly at his heart.

Giroud will always be one of the more hotly-contested players in Arsenal history, simply because he had the unenviable task of following up some of the best strikers to ever pass through the club.

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But Giroud will also always be a fantastic servant to the club. He weathered the criticism like a champ and never let his appreciation deaden. He was a trooper in that sense, and even when he left the club for Chelsea, a truly unjust ending, he made mention about how the Gunners would always be at his heart.

Saying that his blood is blue is a publicity stunt. He wants to energize the fans in his attempt to rub it in our face that we shouldn’t have let him go. I agree, we shouldn’t have. But I also know that when Giroud retires, he is going to retire as an Arsenal man first, without a doubt. The same way that Petr Cech will retire a Chelsea man.

We’ve seen this kind of thing before. Even the likes of Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas speak about how they will always be red and white. And they obviously went on to have rather successful times at Manchester United and Chelsea, respectively.

You don’t take the roots out of a player. Obviously RVP and Cesc have the benefit of having grown up in North London from their teen years, but Giroud embedded himself into the culture here at the Emirates and established himself as a Gooner through and through.

No one is going to forget that any time soon, least of all Giroud, who has patted that Gunner badge far more than he has the Chelsea one. I just hate that we’ll have to see Giroud dejected again.