Olivier Giroud signs - Confirmed

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.

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its official.

welcome to the arsenal

Welcome!

Now, who's next?

Welcome Olivier.

Chuffed......welcome big man. Win us trophies, no pressure!

Welcome Olivier!

2 quality additions before the Euro's have finished.... getting excited about next season now.

Yay, two down. How many more to go........?

Welcome Giroud, look forward to seeing you play in the red and white (and navy)!

Welcome to Arsenal, Olivier.



He can play with no boots too.

Our boot-less striker

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... rs-gallery


I really hope he will be the one who breaks the cursed #9 shirt tradition and becomes a real star.

Good and early business by Arsène.

M'Vila next ?

Thanks for coming big guy .

Thanks for coming big guy .

Sounds wrong that.

geez it does doesn't it ? oh well too late .

There we have them again the obligatory socks photo's. I'm quite sure Stuart MacFarlane has got some weird sock fetish.

Oh-lala!

qu'est-ce que c'est que ca?

le plus meilleur nombre neuf depuis....

WELCOME!

Im actually a bit surprised. never thougth Wenger would buy two more attacking players before he had sold a few...

keep up the good work, Arsène

And welcome Olivier - may the schwartz be with you

Welcome to the gooners giroud good luck.

hey RVP there you go we sign tow quality players now please sign new contract and dont make us suffer.

hope from Arsène sign us another player and hope will be a midfield. well done Arsène keep it up.

Robin, Giroud, Podolski, Gervinho, Walcott, Chamberlain
...compared to:
Robin, Chamakh, Gervinho, Park, Walcott, Chamberlain

Our attacking options are miles better than last season.

Welcome, hope you're going to have a great time here.

That's two signings now, before the EC have finished.
Well done Wenger.
Don't think you're done with it now, there's deadwood to get rid of.

Our recent acquisitions from the French league haven't been great, hope Giroud changes that.

Obligatory Viewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm-wK9yZ ... re=g-all-u

Fantastic. Another confirmed signing. We are the most active team in the prem so far aren't we?

Massive improvement on last years debacle.

Now sort Theo and RVP out either way and lets concentrate on getting a good pre-season under our belts and a storming start to the league.

Welcome to the gooners giroud good luck.

hey RVP there you go we sign tow quality players now please sign new contract and dont make us suffer.

hope from Arsène sign us another player and hope will be a midfield. well done Arsène keep it up.

tow quality? do you mean low or top? hopefully you mean top and are not being sarcastic!

Are we Man City in disguise?

The senior forward players on our books...

RvP, Giroud, Podolski, Walcott, "Gervinho", Bendtner, Arshavin, Vela, Chamakh.

That's 9 forwards unless I'm forgetting someone, which is entirely likely since I almost forgot Chamakh.

Welcome Giroud, I think he will be a good signing for us, maybe an Alan Smith type striker (obviously I mean the tall one that played for us) coincidentally, both are the same height, 6'3" Thinking about it, wasn't Smith also No9?

Samuel J C ‏@samuelj29060
Giroud has asked to wear the no.12 number at Arsenal (via @JamieDalton82

)

Welcome to the gooners giroud good luck.

hey RVP there you go we sign tow quality players now please sign new contract and dont make us suffer.

hope from Arsène sign us another player and hope will be a midfield. well done Arsène keep it up.

tow quality? do you mean low or top? hopefully you mean top and are not being sarcastic!

Well not top quality but decent they are both good players.

Robin, Giroud, Podolski, Gervinho, Walcott, Chamberlain
...compared to:
Robin, Chamakh, Gervinho, Park, Walcott, Chamberlain

Our attacking options are miles better than last season.

Yeah but we have to hold fire on this for now, the RVP situation could put a major dent in that line up unless he goes and we replace him with a star striker.

Samuel J C ‏@samuelj29060
Giroud has asked to wear the no.12 number at Arsenal (via @JamieDalton82)

Hope that's true, #9 is there to fail.

That's 9 forwards unless I'm forgetting someone, which is entirely likely since I almost forgot Chamakh.

Park?


Welcome to Arsenal, Giroud!

Are we Man City in disguise?

The senior forward players on our books...

RvP, Giroud, Podolski, Walcott, "Gervinho", Bendtner, Arshavin, Vela, Chamakh.

That's 9 forwards unless I'm forgetting someone, which is entirely likely since I almost forgot Chamakh.

You can add Campbell to the list, but he will go out on loan. Also only Giroud and Podolski can be sure they wont be sold Seriously, any of the others could be leaving, hopefully the last 4 definitely will, so we wont end up with too many strikers.

Oh yeh, I also forgot Park, easily done I guess!

That's 9 forwards unless I'm forgetting someone, which is entirely likely since I almost forgot Chamakh.

Park?


Welcome to Arsenal, Giroud!

To get two deals of the magnitude of Giroud and Podolski tied up this early is fantastic business by the club. Two players, both of a good age, coming off the back of very succesful domestic seasons, one of whom has a fantastic amount of international experience.

Because this is pretty unprecedented under Wenger, we're all getting a bit sceptical and assuming that other, more established players will be leaving, but if you'd offered me Giroud and Podolski before the end of the Euros I'd have bitten your hand off.