Arsenal Complete Signing Of Olivier Giroud

As expected, Arsenal have completed the signing of French striker Olivier Giroud for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be in the range of £12m. RMC and a variety of other source, including the BBC, had first reported the transfer two weeks ago, and things picked up quickly from there, despite the player being involved at Euro 2012. Last week, Arsene Wenger said that Giroud was "90% an Arsenal player" and with France crashing out of the Euros, it seems that all of those paperwork things like medicals and signing contracts have been completed.

We'll have more about how Giroud will work his way into the Arsenal team, but at the moment, be happy that Arsenal have signed two very good strikers, Lukas Podolski and Giroud, for the combined price of £23m, or, £2m less than what they got for whinging wantaway Samir Nasri. While some are concerned that Giroud is a replacement for Robin van Persie, I wouldn't see it that way.

One of Arsenal's problems last year was the complete lack of competent back up strikers aside from a 6-week period where Thierry Henry was at the club. Giroud, at the very least, will be an upgrade on Marouane Chamakh and Ju-Young Park, and if Arsenal are to lose van Persie, they've at least gotten two strikers early in the transfer window. Either way, signing Giroud is a good thing, and should ease the reliance on Robin van Persie.