Saturday 15 September 2012

Olivier Giroud: Should he have left Montpellier?

Olivier Giroud (cropped).jpg
Giroud on debut for The Gunners.
Last year Olivier Giroud was the prolific top goalscorer in Ligue 1 with 21 goals, leading Montpellier to their first Ligue 1 championship ever. Now, after a £12 million deal that brought him to The Emirates and Arsenal, he has not scored once and rumours say he might have even been dropped to the bench. 

He obviously has some talent because he has eleven international caps to his name, scoring one goal. His first cap came on 3rd November 2011, in an effort to reward Giroud for his performances domestically with Montpellier, national team coach Laurent Blanc named the striker in the squad to play in friendly matches against the United States and Belgium on 11 and 15 November 2011, respectively. Although he did only come on as substitute in both games. 

He scored his first and only international goal, so far, against Germany (in another friendly) contributing to a 2-1 victory. 

Although, maybe if he isn't scoring goals for his new English side, h could be played in the gap between midfield and attack as he did assist  nine of Montpellier's goals last season, and that was playing as an out and out forward, he also has three international assists.

His former French team must have rated him highly, putting a £55 million price tag on him. They obviously lowered this with Giroud leaving for only twelve. I personally believe this is because Olivier Giroud wanted to move clubs to play at a higher level and no one in the right mind would pay such an extortionate amount who hasn't proved he can score goals consistently at the highest level. 

I suppose, on the other hand, you can't jump to conclusions when the twenty five year old has only played three games as a Gunner in contrast to the seventy three he played at Montpellier. The Frenchman may be struggling with the fast paced English game whereas Santi Cazorla has fitted in to the team like he has played there all his life. 

There is no doubt that Olivier Giroud can score goals, it's what he does for a living, but is he right for Arsenal's passing style of play?

What do you think?






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