Former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka has called for Arsene Wenger to show similar faith in Olivier Giroud to what he experienced when arriving in 1997, The Evening Standard reports.
Anelka arrived as an unknown teenager and after leading us to the double in his first season, the world took notice and he was sold to Real Madrid in 1999 for £23.5million – a huge price-tag in that era.
And the Frenchman now believes that Giroud is in need of some attention from the boss, with our striker experiencing a difficult few weeks for club and country.
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“Arsene did the same with me – when Ian Wright was there, he didn’t buy anyone and I had to do the job up front,” Anelka was quoted as saying in The Evening Standard.
“Arsene believes in his team, that’s why he hasn’t spent money. He believes in Giroud because he thinks he will score a lot of goals, which he already has done.”
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Anelka’s words are admirable, but his situation cannot be compared to Giroud’s due to one simple fact; age difference. The former Chelsea striker arrived as a raw talent with very little experience, while Giroud turns 29 this month.
It seems that at both international and club level, Giroud’s respective fans expect much more from him than he’s capable of producing. Spectators should just accept that he’s a limited striker who is capable of missing the simplest of chances but scoring the downright outrageous.
For France, he’s behind Karim Benzema in the pecking order, however, for us, Giroud remains our first choice striker. That is a problem Wenger should’ve sorted in the window.
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