Every team should have a big lump of a striker.

That poor horsie's reputation has really suffered since it started getting mistaken for Andy Carroll.

If he's here to be 2nd choice, I guess that's alright. But underwhelming as ever though and he's taken a while to produce a single good season in pretty poor French league.

I think he's a late bloomer more than anything. He played in Ligue 2 just two years ago.

I'm sure he is, I'm just never going to get what I want in this or any transfer window really (ie. A top quality, relatively proven player).

Klaus wrote:

That poor horsie's reputation has really suffered since it started getting mistaken for Andy Carroll.

😆

I can't stop laughing at that "he smells blood" post that you wrote a few weeks ago.

Hilarious.

Don Pacifico wrote:

I'm sure he is, I'm just never going to get what I want in this or any transfer window really (ie. A top quality, relatively proven player).

Poor Podolski, never gets a mention cos he signed up too quick!

Hope this guy could be the technically acceptable strong-ego'd Chamakh we never had, or the Bendtner with a first touch we never had. He looks it.

If so he'd be a great asset. We really need a proper forward who can come off the bench and work his socks off to make an impact when our regular options have a bad day. A target man who can jump and strike the ball, with a bit of cunning and scrappy-goal-iness would be ideal, but confidence, ability and work rate are the essential traits.

I see for some reason he's been linked on a few sites today with QPR.
I think not.

I'm jumping on board this left foot army we're building.

Don't know what to think of this.

He'd be a great replacement for Chamakh, but knowing this is Arsenal we're talking about, he's more likely to replace Robin.

Well, if the rumours of Chamakh going in the opposite direction are anything to go by, there's a big indication of the thinking behind this move.

And on that basis, I'd be behind it.

i just want change for change's sake. the management have eroded any enthusiasm i had left over the past few windows.

least it'll be a new face to moan about eh?

He's a good player. You'll all get to see a glimpse of what he'll offer over Chamakh in the latter parts of today's match.

Everyone reporting this is a done deal, as long as he is not RvP replacement then its not a bad plan B to have.. wouldn't pay more than 10 mil for him though...

As long as we sign M'vila and keep Robin having Giroud on board as well will be good news.

Any move that gets rid of Chamakh is alright by me.

Cant believe Chamakh, Park, Vela and Bendtner are still on our books.

How many mins of YouTube footage of giroud you seen timbo? I've seen 2.34

This might be replacement for RVP dont ya think

None Dules, but he's decent on Footy Manager, so I say get him in.

For what it's worth, a stats comparison between Chamakh and Giroud over two seasons in Ligue 1.

Chamakh only averaged over a shot per game even when he was at the peak of his powers? Damn.

and half those goals were probably with his head. guy hates to shoot, cos he knows he's bad at it.

Giroud really 'exploded' this past year as well. I think he got 20 goals and 8 assists (or something like that). He's an excellent target man who can hold up play really well, and has pretty decent technique. Not just a big lump who will head it in the net.

Whether or not we manage to ditch Chamakh as part of this will pretty much determine how I feel about it overall. Wages could prevent it happening, but otherwise it we get rid of Chamakh it'll seem less like Giroud's a Van Persie replacement.

Got a feeling the only way we can pull this off is if Chamakh goes the other way. Preferably can get some money for him rather than a loan deal to get him off our books.

I'd rather see us pay £10m + Chamakh than just £10m.

Chamakh's supposedly on £60k/w and has two years left on his contract—works out to about -£6m value to us, assuming he's worth zero (or less than zero) on the pitch, which seems perfectly fair.

We need to pretend he's worth something to any club that might potentially be interested, but a loan out at £30-40k/w off his Arsenal wage would be an ok deal, get him out of the 25 and cut his overheads down by 50%.

...from Arsenal, who are set to win the race for Giroud, with only a fee left to be agreed, according to his club coach Girard.

'Arsenal are very interested and Giroud wants to play in England. If Arsene Wenger agrees with the president, he will sign for them,' Girard told French radio station RMC.

'We would like Chamakh on loan, as part of the Giroud deal, but I don't know if it is possible.'

🙂

"with only a fee left to be agreed". Not happening then. 🙂

I'd be happy enough with bringing in giroud and selling rvp provided we use the cash upside to get an attacking mid. Dzagoev!