The agent of Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has spoken out about his clients future after reports linked him with Napoli in a lucrative switch deal.
Last week’s media was plastered in rumours suggesting he would be used in a deal to bring Gonzalo Higuain to the Gunners as they search for a better price.
However, despite his earlier comments saying that a move to the Serie A could have plenty of benefits, Michael Manuello has rubbished the rumours saying there are no plans in place for his client to walk away from North London.
Whilst talking to Italian news outlet Tutto Mercato, he confirmed that Giroud would almost definitely be playing football at the Emirates this season, whilst welcoming new additions to the attack.
Today he is an Arsenal player. I would like to stress that we haven’t even thought about another project.
We never talked to Napoli. There are no other people appointed over me that can do this.
You always need two strikers. If you play in a great team you should face strong competition.
The reaction we can take from Manuello’s comments is a positive one, because as Giroud has said on multiple occasions, welcoming competition to the club is always going to help.
With Danny Welbeck out injured for at least seven more months, the only realistic competition Giroud has for the centre forward role is the heavily underachieving Theo Walcott.
It’s obvious that Wenger is in for a striker, with Mauro Icardi the latest to be heavily linked with the move, and that can only be good news for Giroud, who bagged 16 Premier League goals last season.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that an international striker should be scoring more than that in a single campaign, and that’s why the pressure of surrounding forwards will work in his favour.
We saw the best of Welbeck since his Manchester United move when he was putting Giroud on the bench week after week, and similar competition up top could help Wenger get the best of both worlds.
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