Giroud Who?

Since my last post (way back in May - whoops!) we managed to secure that precious 3rd place by beating West Brom, signed Podolski good and proper and the Euro's have been in full swing. England were knocked out on Sunday so my attention turns right back to all things Arsenal. In particular, our new signing, Mr Olivier Giroud from French champions Montpellier for a fee estimated to be around £12 million. The confirmation of Giroud joining us took a while despite rumours claiming the transfer was all but done. Even Wenger came out and claimed the deal was "90% done", which was a surprise because Le Boss rarely talks so openly about transfers, especially when they're not completed yet.

The 25 year old French international joins us after a successful season at Montpellier. The 6ft 3ins striker scored an impressive 21 goals on his way to helping his side win the league and played in all four games France played at Euro 2012 before they were knocked out by Spain. Arsene had this to say about our new striker: "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."

I'm excited to see what Giroud can offer our squad. His height could be a huge boost for us, especially from set pieces. He's not guaranteed a spot in the starting eleven just yet, as competition will now be fiercer than ever in attack. Somehow Wenger has to find a way of fitting Giroud, van Persie, Podolski, Walcott, Gervinho and Oxlade-Chamberlain (Ryo Miyaichi is a possibility too) into our forward-three, without disrupting the apple cart. The new boys, Podolski and Giroud, will not be happy with sitting on the bench, at least not for long. I haven't even included Chamakh and Park in the equation, both of whom look extremely redundant in this squad now.

There's been a few fans who've mentioned that the signing of Giroud has been made because van Persie is leaving but I don't believe that's the case. The club would be stupid to let RVP leave, even for the ridiculous money Man City would offer, and I don't think Wenger see's Giroud and Podolski as replacements for our captain. I'm sure the boss has secured the new signings to support van Persie and not to replace him but if the Dutchman were to leave the club, we're prepared for the fallout at least.

Giroud will join up with the squad in July and I'm excited to see how he gets on during pre-season. Let's hope he comes good and doesn't turn out to be another Chamakh.

Thanks for reading.