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Olivier Giroud to stay at Arsenal until Alexis Sanchez and Thomas Lemar futures are resolved
Arsene Wenger is refusing to sell Olivier Giroud until he has a clearer idea of whether Alexis Sanchez will stay or if Monaco can be persuaded to sell Thomas Lemar.
The Arsenal manager is also confident that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will not leave this summer, despite the current deadlock in negotiations to potentially extend a contract that expires next year.
Both Giroud and Oxlade-Chamberlain are in the 25-man Arsenal squad that will arrive in Sydney on Tuesday morning when Wenger will face media questions for the first time this summer.
There is uncertainty over a long list of players, although it is the Sanchez situation that will go furthest to shaping Arsenal’s transfer strategy. Wenger has already signed striker Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon in a club record £52 million deal and has also been trying to buy Lemar but, with Monaco turning down respective bids of €40 million and €45 million, a deal appears unlikely.
Giroud wants regular first-team football ahead of next summer’s World Cup and is a target of Marseille, Everton and West Ham United but Wenger is unwilling to sanction a deal now and risk being left short of strikers later this summer if it is decided that Sanchez cannot be allowed to run his contract down.
Whereas Sanchez is in the final year of his contract and has been refusing an offer worth around £275,000-a-week, Giroud is not out of contract for another two years. Wenger also does not want to lose the attacking variety that Giroud provides, even if he is unlikely to feature in the first-choice starting team.
The situation is also complicated by the unusually high number of players now in the final year of their contracts. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arsenal have so far been unable to find any agreement but there is a feeling still that a deal could be sorted next season if he continues his recent progress.
Mesut Ozil’s contract offer also remain unsigned but, like Oxlade-Chamberlain, all sides seem more relaxed about the prospect of going into the final year and still trying to strike a deal. Arsenal also know that the options to sell Ozil and Oxlade-Chamberlain are likely to be limited. Manchester City, Chelsea and Bayern Munich are all interested in Sanchez and so the financial hit of holding him to his contract is potentially far greater.
Sanchez reached the final of the Confederations Cup with Chile and is not due back for pre-season training until later in the month. Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs, Lucas Perez, Wojciech Szczesny and Mathieu Debuchy have also not travelled with Arsenal and are all likely to leave this summer.
There is also doubt over Jack Wilshere but he is missing the trip to Australia and China as he continues his recovery from a broken leg.