Football transfer rumours: Marseille or Lyon to land Olivier Giroud?
Today’s fluff came to the party on my own
The front page of this morning’s L’Equipe carries a large picture of Olivier Giroud cupping a hand to his ear. “Giroud,” reads the headline, “Le chant de retour.” He is hearing, they say, a siren song that is leading him back home, where Lyon and Marseille both hope to complete what would be “un superbe coup pour la Ligue 1”. The paper explains that the French domestic championship has become increasingly attractive given the number of highly-rated coaches currently working there. “All that remains is to launch the second stage of the rocket,” they write, “by attracting the players capable of propelling Ligue 1 to rarified heights. And what better signal than to bring Olivier Giroud, the international team’s centre forward, back home?”
Like L’Equipe, the Mill can think of no better signal than that. Other than buying a younger and/or better player instead, obviously. The French paper also write that Arsenal want Monaco’s Thomas Lemar “at any price”, which isn’t much of a negotiating position but should, in the end, let them get their man. The Telegraph had reported that the failure of their initial offer had prompted the Gunners to look again at Riyad Mahrez, but it sounds like the Algerian shouldn’t get too excited just yet.
