The Underrated Striker That Is Olivier Giroud

It’s difficult to be a high level, world class striker in European football, which may sound like a bizarre statement in itself. We obviously understand that it’s an incredible privilege for these men and women to perform at such a high level and get paid extraordinarily well to do so, but let’s not pretend like there aren’t pressures that come alongside that.

We’re of the belief that you need to be incredibly strong both mentally as well as physically in order to handle it, and one man that we think falls into that category perfectly is Olivier Giroud.

The Chelsea forward, as reported by BBC, has signed a brand new deal with the Blues that is set to keep him at the club – after a great deal of speculation surrounding his future. Of course, the likes of The Guardian are choosing to focus on the fact that Chelsea have a transfer ban imposed right now, but we don’t think that’s the highlight of this story.

An odd movement

In fact, we think bringing that up at all is a bit insulting to someone like Giroud.

The implication is that Chelsea are keeping hold of him because they aren’t able to really bring anyone else in right now, which is unbelievably harsh. The Frenchman is a seasoned veteran in this game and especially in English football as a whole, dating back to his days with Arsenal. It’s also worth noting that the move from the Emirates to Stamford Bridge was kind of sprung on Olivier as a way for Arsenal to get Aubameyang to join the club, and it has taken him a while to settle into things on the blue side of London.

In our opinion, though, not enough fans praise this guy for his work on the pitch. In addition to having a great eye for goal, he’s also a natural ‘big man’ striker. We don’t usually enjoy giving players that kind of moniker but in this instance, it’s absolutely warranted. He holds the ball up well, causes problems inside the box, and is a general nuisance in and around the goal which is exactly what you need at this level.

World class star

He’s getting on a bit in ‘football years’ and he probably won’t be at the top tier for too much longer, which is why we’re so chuffed to see Chelsea give him another chance. Whatever the reason for doing so may be, we don’t care – because all we care about is that he has the chance to continue proving himself to the masses.

Giroud needs a good core squad around him in order to create opportunities, but beyond that, a stable manager wouldn’t go amiss either. There are constant rumours regarding the future of Maurizio Sarri as the club’s manager, and one way or another, we want to see the issue get put to bed as soon as possible.

It’s not healthy for either party, and for someone like Giroud, he needs the focus to be on him in order to get the best out of the forward.