Arsenal need Giroud and must not sell him this summer

There have been a fair few suggestions over the past couple of days that French international striker Olivier Giroud has been transfer listed by Arsenal Football Club in the last week. A string of bad performances over the course of this season has meant the club has apparently lost faith in him. There were also rumours that the move was because of his indiscretions in a hotel and his wife wanting to return to France.

There are two things that will contrast opinion at the moment and why the Giroud fans will continue to prosper in their own little way. First off all of course, Giroud scored what was set to be the winning goal in the 2-2 draw against Swansea City. But let me remind you that Giroud had not done anything else productive at all in that game. I cannot remember a single other shot from the Frenchman, only a couple of failed attempts of trying to get the ball out from under his feet. Even his passing and his holding off the ball seemed to have been lost.

Secondly, Giroud now has 19 goals for the season. A stat which in its own right is okay I suppose for a central striker, however when you look at the games those goals have come in, and at what times of the season they have been at, you will see that although sometimes he has the ability, he lacks consistent conviction in front of goal and that is no place for someone who is supposed to be a first choice striker at a club that is ambitious to win the league.

However saying that, just because Giroud doesn’t deserve to be Arsenal’s current first choice striker, it doesn’t mean that he should be sold. Giroud has proven that he can play in the Premier League; the problem is that he is not consistent enough at the highest level. Therefore, although there is no doubt that we should look to bring in another central striker and a top quality one too, Giroud shouldn’t necessarily be sold. I reckon if he was to be sold; the club wouldn’t receive more than £8 million for him, showing just how much his value has dropped.

Therefore that money wouldn’t be worth re-investing in a new backup striker, and I think Giroud could do the job there. I think he’d be willing to fight for his place at Arsenal and maybe that would bring the best out of him.