Arsenal and Newcastle United’s interest in French forward Olivier Giroud has been confirmed by Montpellier.
However, owner Louis Nicollin claims that Newcastle are ‘too small’ to buy Giroud and the Premier League duo would have to pay between £40-£50 million to land the 25-year-old.
Nicollin told the French press:
‘Newcastle? They are too small for him.
‘Arsenal? We must see if Arsene Wenger is interested because he has Van Persie.
‘Given that he [Giroud] still has more than two years left on his contract, he’ll cost a lot more, either €50m [£42m] or €60m [£50m].’
Giroud’s goalscoring form in Ligue 1 this season with 13 goals in 18 matches has alerted Arsenal and Newcastle to his services.
Whilst Newcastle fans wont take kindly to being referred to as a ‘small club’, it’s not like Arsenal have had a great deal of success in the past few years. Whilst Arsenal are in the driving seat, if Newcastle were willing to put the cash forward then Montpellier may be persuaded to sell.
That doesn’t answer the question as to whether he’d be a good fit at either club. Both clubs need a striker (one to partner RVP at Arsenal and one to partner Demba Ba at Newcastle) but why spend £42m on Giroud when you could pick up Lukas Podolski for significantly less?
What’s your take? Should Arsenal or Newcastle pursue Giroud or does his price tag make him too big a risk?
Click HERE to see the original article. This article was first published on CleanSheetsAllRound
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Louis Nicollin is on glue 42M, have a word eh
The Levison enquiry team are after you, just remember that sunshine, they are looking to pass the buck!
42 million, get out of the cocktail bar and work for a change, journalist are you, l think not.
i think podlski wiil be the better choice for the club, he is not thst experncive, and sice we need a defender it would save money
Podoiski has proved his goal-scoring ability – at club and international level; whereas Giroud is yet to prove himself over the long haul. If, hopefully, he teams up with RvP, his versaitility will offer the choice of a 442 formation, when required. If Henry plays now, Podoiski will be able to settle in gradually. These are just two of fourteen possibilities and the only certainty, is that we`ll wind up withthe cheapest.
i wont buy montpellier and the fans for 42m pounds!! anyways GGMU!!
42m is peanuts, in about 5 months that’ll probably be the equivalent of 10p. Nice one Greece.
Sometimes it is better Wenger having fewer options, it takes him that much longer to make simple decisions. In the end he will see a bargain and hold on to that player way to long when they prove not compatible with the Arsenal style.