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Giroud: ‘Arsenal legends told me to leave’

Olivier Giroud has admitted that two Arsenal legends advised him to join Chelsea as it would suit his style of play better.

Giroud swapped the Emirates for Stamford Bridge in an £18 million move back on January’s transfer deadline day having fallen down the pecking order under Arsene Wenger.

“Football legends like Robert Pires, who’s a close friend, Freddy Ljungberg and even some former Chelsea players told me that their game would suit me because they always play with a big striker and cross a lot,” he told L’Equipe

“The difference is the coach made me sign and he wants to play me, he likes my profile.

“Of course, the fact that Arsenal signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after recruiting Alexandre Lacazette last summer, that weighed heavily on the scales to make me lean towards leaving.

“Wenger told me that he would make sure, in terms of how I left, that I could be happy because he took a little responsibility with my situation. At the start of the season, I said I wanted to stay even if he wanted a different type of attacker because I knew that I was going to get some playing time and I wanted to fight for my place.

“Dropping down to third choice, though, my departure became unavoidable.”

Despite having only scored one goal since making the moving to Chelsea, he has still been selected in the France squad for their upcoming friendlies against Colombia and Russia.

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