Arsenal's Olivier Giroud will add intelligence as well as robustness

Olivier Giroud admits Arsenal lack the financial firepower of big rivals but insists club can rely on 'other values' for its title aims

It was less than 24 hours since the news broke that Arsenal were selling Robin van Persie to Manchester United, and one of the men bought to fill the vacuum found himself in the middle of Hackney Marshes. He patiently repeated footballing poses for a photo shoot with giant reflectors highlighting his imposing frame. Nobody batted an eyelid. A couple of dog walkers passed by hanging on to a cluster of leads. A little group of kite flyers were out. A lone runner jogged along. A cameraman for Al Jazeera, knowing there was an interview with a footballer scheduled, wandered over, asking, "What's his name?" Olivier Giroud. "Who does he play for?" Arsenal. The cameraman shrugged, none the wiser.

If he needs time to make himself better known in the world of English football, that's an idea Giroud is totally comfortable with. His career trajectory is that of a slow burner. He knocked around the lower leagues in France until his mid-20s, finally planting his flag in the top division with Montpellier when he was not far from his 24th birthday. Since then, the pace of his development has picked up considerably, and the last few months have been more like a whirlwind. May: clinch the French title and golden boot, and even feel self confident enough to appear as the cover shot of Parisian gay magazine Têtu to reflect spiralling profile. June: take part in the European Championship with the national team. July: catapult into Arsenal ready to leap into a new challenge.

The meandering route to the top has made him circumspect, wary of getting too carried away. Giroud has absolutely no intention of setting any goals about what he wants to achieve and how quickly he might achieve it. He may have them privately, but they are certainly not for public consumption.

Van Persie's departure does put a new slant on everything. The pressure on Giroud, along with Lukas Podolski, the other international Arsène Wenger recruited to score goals, automatically becomes more intense. That was evident on the opening day of the season as Podolski struggled to make an impact, and Giroud, presented with a matchwinning chance on his debut appearance on the Premier League stage, fluffed his lines.

It is a pressure that Giroud welcomes, though. He is not afraid of this opportunity. "I don't want to spit in the soup," he says, a French maxim which in other words means I don't want to knock what's good for me.

"If Robin had not gone it would have been fine, it would have allowed me to adapt more progressively and with more time," he explains. "But I don't want to be fussy. I am happy. It works for me, because when you are a footballer you want to play. Inevitably, with Robin gone it will give me more playing time. People will expect a lot, and I really feel the desire to fulfil this expectation. It is better than if I was sitting on the bench."

Van Persie passed on a few words of advice before he headed north. "We said goodbye, wished each other good luck for the future, and said that we will cross paths again," Giroud recalls. "I hope everything will go well for him. I have no worries about him. He's a great striker."

Giroud is fond of the idea that everyone has their own story, and he feels compelled to make his own the best it can possibly be. His own childhood, in a household he describes as "a family of footballers" showed him that some tales end abruptly. His big brother Romain, 10 years his senior, was on course for a big career, and was a central defender of such promise he was capped regularly as a junior. "He was picked 40 times for the French national team, at under-15 and under-17 level, with Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Nicolas Anelka," Olivier recalls. "He was trained at Auxerre, he was a hope, but he never had a professional career." Romain went back to studying, and became a nutritionist.

All this happened when Olivier was just starting out as a boy in the youth system at Grenoble. Having witnessed what happened to Romain, and been sent on loan to Istres in the third tier, it was quite a knockback when his club put him up for sale, saying that he did not have the qualities to play with the elite. He went to Tours. "I had to take a risk to restart in a lower league," he says. "But I never gave up."

It resonates how often his story has overlapped with Laurent Koscielny. They were in the same team at Tours that just missed out on promotion, a close-knit bunch who felt they could be part of something special. They moved on in different directions but met up again last winter with the French national team. Now Koscielny has been showing him the ropes in London. "It was funny to see him again, like fate giving you a wink," Giroud says. "Laurent is a good example. I am proud of what I did. Those experiences [in the lower divisions] helped me to develop my personality. I have certain values. I know where I come from. I am a hard worker. I'm conscious of my luck."

Giroud has a reputation in France for being a likeable, uncomplicated character. As he opens up a chocolate bar and fizzy drink from the vending machine to sustain him through the afternoon, he breaks into English for my benefit. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" His willingness to share a snack with a journalist he has only just met emphasises how he has not yet let a famously egotistical profession get in the way of affable good manners. He even manages to keep a straight face when a grammatical slip meant that one of my questions in Franglais turned out to be a malapropism of the highest order. Attempts to ask him about his targets ended up referencing what happens to a man when he gets excited.

Communicating in another language is clearly not always a breeze, but Giroud is keen to start making connections. He regularly interrupts his French flow to try out English phrases. It is all part of his eagerness to get on the same wavelength as his team-mates as quickly as he can.

He is realistic enough to suggest that does not happen overnight. "You have to communicate, you have to click, to find automatic reactions with your team-mates," he says. "It takes time to adapt to become an Arsenal player. Before the start of the season we had 45 minutes together. That's how it is when you have the Euros and then have to rest. But there is a lot of quality in this team."

In a sense he would like Arsenal to emulate Montpellier, a team that last season came together to prove that the wealthiest do always equate to the best. His old team were surprise champions at the expense of the newly wealthy Paris St-Germain. "Compared to PSG we had a fraction of their budget. We had less money but a lot of quality. To keep going for the whole season was something extraordinary. We had a young group of guys and we told ourselves we achieved something really huge.

"It's a good example for Arsenal. We don't have the money of the Manchester clubs or Chelsea. Arsenal builds its team through training, through recruiting players who can become something. Arsenal has less money than some other clubs so we have to fight with other values. The collective, the group spirit, is good. We have an important role to play in this championship." Is it possible to win the league? "Honestly, it will be complicated. Because the competition is fierce. But who knows?"

After that slightly downbeat start of a goalless draw at home to Sunderland, Arsenal need to find more spark, more rhythm, more efficiency at Stoke on Sunday. Next month is fairly unforgiving, including trips to Liverpool and Manchester City, as well as a visit from Chelsea. Giroud is aware of the welcome that traditionally awaits Arsenal at the Britannia, and if Wenger is tempted to select his 6ft 4in target man, whose aggression on the training ground has been noted, it will be a fascinating test.

It is early days, but the expectation seems to be that Giroud is being judged either as a potential heir to Van Persie or as an expensive version of Marouane Chamakh? In truth, neither is particularly fair.

He wants to make his own impression, his own way. So, how would he describe himself to his new audience in England? The first adjectives trip off the tongue. "Ambitious. Generous …" Then he pauses for thought. "Natural … Intelligent …" That was enough, but Giroud feels obliged to come up with another word. "Stubborn!" he exclaims before again slipping into English with some very deliberate gestures. "I want to go here." He points, then drops his voice to sound even more determined. "I go here."

The overall message does not really need translation. Do not judge this particular story by its opening line last weekend.

Source: Amy Lawrence, The Guardian on 25 Aug 12

Arsenal rue Olivier Giroud's miss in goalless opener with Sunderland

Olivier Giroud felt his heart race as time appeared to slow. In the words of Arsenal's £13m striker, "the dream start" beckoned. Eighteen minutes into his debut for the club as a substitute, he found himself clean through, thanks to Santi Cazorla's clever pass. He simply needed to steer his right-foot shot into the corner.

If he scores, Arsenal win, he is the hero and the healing process over Robin van Persie's departure to Manchester United begins. Instead, Giroud's shot kept on travelling past the post. Arsène Wenger, the manager, threw up his hands and slumped into his seat. Everybody in the stadium suspected that Van Persie would have found the net. "It just didn't smile for us today," Giroud said.

Wenger always takes defeat badly, and this result felt like a defeat, despite the worthiness of Sunderland's defensive effort and the pair of decent early chances that they created for James McClean and Jack Colback.

Yet it was startling to see how weary Wenger looked afterwards, as was the sense of resignation in his words and body language. He confirmed that Alex Song was bound for Barcelona in a £15m deal which, as things stand, means he has turned a profit on his summer transfer spend.

With Van Persie and Song absent and Lukas Podolski, Cazorla and Giroud wearing the red shirt for the first time, there was a sense that another cycle has started. After overseeing so many of them, Wenger could have been forgiven for feeling the grind.

It felt appropriate to ask him whether he still had the enthusiasm for it all. "I believe that part of our club is to influence people's lives in a positive way," he replied. "You would prefer to influence it in a positive way for yourself but it does not always happen."

Van Persie's departure has hit him hard and Martin O'Neill, the Sunderland manager, said that the situation was "as bad as it gets". Song's case is more curious. The midfielder's desire to explore his options led to friction with the club while his consideration of his worth to the team, in technical and financial terms, differed to that of Wenger.

Arsenal had Song under contract to 2015 but their readiness to accept Barcelona's offer spoke volumes. It is easy to detect a feeling at the club of good riddance. Wenger is expected to push ahead with his move for Real Madrid's Nuri Sahin, although he said that he has sufficient existing options to cope.

Song, though, is the latest in a line of players to have developed impressively at Arsenal, only to leave. "We make the players here," Wenger said. "All that have left were made here or made a name here or came here very young. Fábregas, Clichy, Adebayor, Henry, Nasri, all of them. Song came at 17. He had a lot to do when he arrived but he did it."

Wenger's challenge is to get the best out of his new signings. He said that he sees Podolski as his centre-forward, which raises the question of whether Giroud, a true No9, can expect to start regularly. Podolski, who was disappointing on Saturday, did play as the centre-forward for Cologne last season, but he has tended to play off the left for Germany.

"That's where I see him [as the centre-forward]," Wenger said. "But he has some work to do to change his game … to make runs in behind, protect the ball and move around the box. When you come from a wide position, it's not easy straight away to find all that."

It was put to Wenger that Arsenal might have to play differently with Podolski as opposed to Van Persie. "Maybe," he said. "I have to study the game and see what he did when we had the ball. At the moment, we cannot say it worked."

O'Neill could be relieved at Giroud's miss but delighted at Sunderland's collective resilience. His thoughts, though, were also coloured by transfer-market business. He is desperate for reinforcements, particularly up front. "What we lack is some quality in major positions and I actually think the quantity, too."

Man of the match: Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)

Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 19 Aug 12

Olivier Giroud could make a striking difference for Arsenal

Arsène Wenger has unearthed a gem in his latest French signing from Montpellier

It was back in early April when Olivier Giroud, in a question and answer session with the local daily Midi Libre, reflected on his sudden surge into the public consciousness. Montpellier stood on the brink of their first league championship, his goals sustaining Hérault's unlikely challenge against the limitless resources of the Qatari-backed Paris St Germain, and scouting reports of the forward's prowess were arching eyebrows from the Bundesliga to the Premier League.

For a player whose progression from lower leagues to top flight had been steady rather than spectacular, all the newfound attention must have felt unfamiliar. Even unnerving. "I have had my own particular path to reach this point," he had said in the spring. "Things have only really accelerated over the last few months after a rather 'linear' career. But I made sure it happened for me. When things do come off, it makes you very proud. All the effort is worth it. What has happened since has been amazing."

If that was then, Giroud must be pinching himself now. A league title winner in May, and a member of Laurent Blanc's albeit under-achieving France squad at Euro 2012 through June, the 25-year-old will formally become an Arsenal player on 1 July. Prior to arriving at the French base in Donetsk, Giroud had only ever played two games outside France – a Europa League qualifier against the Hungarians Gyori two years ago and a friendly against Germany in Bremen in February – though now he is a high-profile export, and a man whose arrival Arsène Wenger hopes will help to appease Robin van Persie. Arsenal's manager has tracked the 6ft 3in forward from afar. He does not believe a fee of £13m represents a gamble.

The club's supporters may reserve judgement for now, if only because they once pinned their hopes on Marouane Chamakh maintaining the form that had claimed Bordeaux a Ligue 1 title upon his arrival at the Emirates Stadium. Yet the comparisons with the Moroccan should end there. Giroud feels different. The boy who grew up in a well-off Catholic family in the Rhône-Alpes with posters of Marco van Basten and Zinédine Zidane on his bedroom wall has, like Didier Drogba before him, earned this opportunity through steady progress in the French lower leagues. It is no surprise that he spoke of his "pride" at how he had ended up in London: from the boys' team Olympique Club de Froges to Grenoble's youth academy; from a loan spell at Istres in the third tier to a move to Tours of Ligue 2.

There, alongside Laurent Koscielny, he made his mark and put a sports science degree on hold, his goals attracting interest from Celtic before Montpellier secured his services for €2m in January 2010. Last season's French golden boot at Stade de la Mosson was earned as the focal point in a surprise package of a team. Montpellier was supposed to be all about rugby union, not football league championships. They were still an amateur side in the mid-1970s. Yet a club with upper mid-table attendance figures and lower mid-table resources held off PSG's new money with a team of academy graduates and journeymen. The reality that Middle-Eastern money does not always prevail was football's romantic story of the season.

Giroud contributed 21 league goals to ensure his reputation precedes him now. On the pitch he has tremendous stature and physical presence, with his aerial ability surely to prove an asset in the Premier League, but he can be just as quick-witted and nimble in possession. His Montpellier team-mate, Jamel Saihi, has compared him favourably to Zlatan Ibrahimovic in terms of his touch and presence – there were nine assists as well last term – while pointing to his work-rate and desire to defend. His coach at La Paillade, René Girard, described his goalscoring ability as "innate", which should make an attacking trio of Van Persie, Lukas Podolski and Giroud feel mouth-watering.

"I can play as a lone forward, in partnership with a second forward, or in front of a No10," he said. "I'll adapt my game to different situations. That's my job. I've worked hard to add some explosive power to the first few metres when I make a run with or without the ball. I still need to work on my game when I have my back to goal. That's the hardest part." That acknowledgement suggests a desire and willingness to maintain his education at Arsenal, and a realisation that, despite being an international, there is plenty more still to come. Wenger will tap into that appetite to improve.

He will need time to settle. London-life will be very different to what he has grown used to back in Montpellier, where he, his father and brother would regularly take themselves off to wine tastings in Languedoc-Roussillon to stock the striker's cellar with vintages from Pic Saint-Loup and Montpeyroux. "Je suis un epicurien," he once told Le Parisien. He has also become a gay icon back home having appeared topless on the front cover of the French magazine Tetu, alongside the pull quote: "Je n'ai pas de tabou." Indeed, in a city renowned for its liberalism, he is France's metrosexual man of the moment, complete with model looks and a legion of female fans, though his focus is fixed. "I still want to learn, to progress," he has said. His arrival at Arsenal will not quench that thirst.

Source: Dominic Fifield, The Guardian on 26 Jun 12

Olivier Giroud agrees deal to join Arsenal

Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that France international Olivier Giroud has agreed to join the Club on a long-term contract.

The 25-year old striker completed a medical before agreeing terms at the Club’s training ground on Monday evening. The completion of the transfer is now just the subject of formal processes.

Giroud arrives from French champions Montpellier, where 21 goals in 36 league appearances made him the French league’s joint top goalscorer last season and also earned him a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year.

Giroud, who enjoyed a two-year spell at the Stade de la Mosson and broke into the national team in November 2011, flew to London after representing Les Bleus at the European Championship in Ukraine and Poland.

The Chambéry-born player spent his formative years in France's lower leagues, developing his game with Grenoble, on loan at FC Istres and then at Tours FC, where he played alongside Laurent Koscielny for a season before being awarded the Ligue 2 Player of the Year award in 2009/10.

Manager Arsène Wenger said: “We are delighted to have secured the signing of Olivier Giroud. He has a very good physical presence and is exceptional in the air, with a great work ethic. We are excited about Olivier joining us and he will add an additional dimension to our attacking options next season.

“He has proved that he is capable of performing at the top level with club and country, and we saw what a big influence he was in Montpellier’s championship-winning side last season. We all look forward to Olivier joining us and seeing him play in an Arsenal shirt.”

Giroud, whose contract with Arsenal will officially commence on July 1, said: “I am delighted to be here at Arsenal and to be part of one of the great teams in English football. It's a huge satisfaction to join this great club and it’s been a dream since I was young to play in the Premier League.

“I was attracted by the philosophy of football and Arsène Wenger’s 'touch' at this club. I have always admired Arsenal with its great history and reputation, and I now hope to achieve great things here. I’m very proud to be a Gunner and I will give my best for all the Arsenal fans.”

Giroud will join up with the Gunners for the Club’s pre-season preparations ahead of the new season.

Source: Arsenal.com on 26 Jun 12