Why Arsenal would be mad to cash in?

Olivier Giroud’s future at Arsenal has been well and truly thrown up in the air (even more so than before) as the club edge closer to signing Alexandre Lacazette.

The Lyon striker is expected to be announced as an Arsenal player by the end of the week before joining up with his new team-mates on for pre-season.

The signing of such an established forward who has an incredible scoring record in Ligue 1 will come as good news to Arsenal fans, but not to one Olivier Giroud. An understandably frustrated figure, the France international has spoke outwardly of his desire for first team football, something that will surely now be even harder to come by with the arrival of Lacazette.

Everton, West Ham and Marseille are just a few of those interested in the £20 million rated forward, but should the Gunners sell?

The answer: no. And here are three reasons why.

Firstly, Giroud is – and shoot for me saying it – and there or there about world class forward, and has proven it in the Premier League and on the international stage. His goalscoring record speaks for itself.

Secondly, Lacazette is no guaranteed hit. While he is certainly a solid acquisition, the Frenchman may need to time to adjust. The Lyon striker has never played outside of France, so his transition to the Premier League is likely to be a lengthy process.

Thirdly, selling him to a rival will only come back to shoot the Gunners in the foot, or perhaps in this case, the head. Everton have made waves in the transfer window already, signalling their intent for next season, and letting them take one of the league’s roughest diamonds to have for their own is a disaster waiting to happen. The same is true of West Ham, it will almost certainly come back to haunt us.