Olivier Giroud might stay at Arsenal after all

French media has reported that Olivier Giroud is intent on staying at Arsenal, despite the fact that they have signed Alexandre Lacazette this summer. The logic of the piece seems to be that he was intent on joining Borussia Dortmund, but with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looking more and more likely to stay at BVB as the striker carousel winds down, his move there is unlikely.

Olympique Marseille have stated interest, but playing in France is about as appealing as playing in Latvia (unless, apparently, they are situated in Paris and are willing to drop €222m on you and pay your father seven truckloads of money), and so he is willing to stay and be a backup at a Europa League team in England.

The article doesn’t actually mention Everton at all, which is curious since the Toffees are known to have been interested and are currently facing the prospect of having Wayne Rooney or Sandro Ramirez as their first choice striker. (Probably Rooney, I actually think Sandro will end up out wide most of the time.)

Everton, in theory, cure some of the ills provided by other potential landing spots. Giroud would be a starter, he would be playing against quality competition, and he would probably get a pay raise, but if this report is true then they have a serious problem on their hands.

Theoretically, a month left in the transfer window is still plenty of time to get several things done, but the opening stretch for Everton is absolutely brutal, and goals will be hard to come by with the pressing of Tottenham Hotspur, the organization of Chelsea, and the desperate fear of bringing the bus out of park at Manchester United all in the early weeks of the year. The time to act is now.

Giroud is a very good striker on a dysfunctional team, he’d be a good fit here, but if that fit doesn’t happen in the next few days then it is well past time to move on to something different.