Olivier Giroud has revealed he came close to leaving Arsenal over the summer before realising he had unfinished business at the club.
Arsenal made Alexandre Lacazette the club’s most expensive player during the summer and it was widely thought that Giroud would leave as a result.
The France international had already dropped down the pecking order last season and was heavily linked with a move to Everton in a bid to keep his starting place up front for the national team ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
However, Giroud, who is poised to start Arsenal’s Europa League match against Cologne on Thursday, believes he has unfinished business at the club, which ultimately swayed the 30-year-old’s decision.
“Actually that’s a very private decision because it’s true that I was close to leave the club because I said that I wanted to play, but after big reflection with everybody around me like my family and my close friends in a supportive way, I wanted to stay at Arsenal and I thought the story was not over,” the London Evening Standard quote Giroud as saying.
“The club brings me a lot and I think I give it back. I still want to improve again and again and win some more trophies for the club, so as I said to the boss our story was not finished, so everybody was please with that.”
Giroud is perhaps his own enemy in his quest for regular playing time after proving a more than capable goalscorer from the bench in the last few years. In fact, since August 2015, Giroud has scored at least four more goals than any other substitute (10) in the Premier League.
