Reports: Olivier Giroud out with until 2015 as Arsenal seek replacement

Olivier Giroud

Latest scans on Olivier Giroud’s broken left foot have revealed that the injury is worse than was initially feared, and specialist doctors have reportedly said that the French striker’s rehabilitation will take at least three months and could last well into next year. The news will come as a bombshell at Arsenal, threatening to derail their title challenge ambitions at a very early stage of the season.

Arsene Wenger will now be forced to move into action in the transfer market to get a quality striker on board in the five days that remain of this transfer window. With Yaya Sanogo also only recently having returned from a hamstring injury, Arsenal’s frontline wears a crippled look. Their manager was visibly troubled when asked about the circumstances and consequences of the injury sustained very late in the weekend’s match against Everton.

”You cannot plan to get an injury like that, in the 94th minute. I still don’t understand how he did it. He overstretched his ankle. It was on the ball, not a contact (with another player). The problem is, I think, his tibia”, he said on Tuesday.

Possible Replacement Options

Joel Campbell and Lukas Podolski are the current options available for being forced into taking added responsibility for the team in the absence of their first-choice in the finisher’s role. Reports suggest that Arsenal have already made an enquiry about Manchester United outcast Danny Welbeck. United are reluctant to sell Welbeck to a league rival and have asked for a £16 million fee. The other prominent name on the radar is QPR striker Loic Remy whose failed medical disrupted his move to Liverpool, and who is thus readily available for a price that will not be as inflated.

The French Press are of the opinion that Wenger has set his sights higher and have linked the club with two strikers playing in Ligue 1. Monaco striker Radamel Falcao, whose club are willing to offer his services, on a huge £20 million per year loan deal; and Edinson Cavani who PSG do not want to let go are the two names.

It remains to be seen whether the French manager digs into club coffers to finally make a long-required signing for a striker of the highest order, or whether he continues his age-old policy of giving opportunities to starlets of the second order. Neither Sanogo or Campbell have scored a competitive goal in an Arsenal shirt yet, and Podolski was heavily rumoured to be leaving the club recently.