Happy January Transfer Window Deadline day! All the dominoes from the Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang deal between Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund are starting to fall into place now.
With Aubameyang being added to the Gunners attack, Olivier Giroud was made expendable and now he moves on to London rival Chelsea, for a £18 million transfer fee . To seal the Aubameyang deal, Michy Batshuayi becomes his replacement at BVB, with Chelsea sending him out on loan. Arsenal even agreed to pay the loan fee. Thus, you have a troika of transfer deals involving forwards that are all interrelated; completing the merry go round.
Chelsea posted the following, just minutes ago:
Welcome to Chelsea, @_OlivierGiroud_! ?#GiroudIsBlue pic.twitter.com/rY1VRsgyYk
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 31, 2018
“Chelsea is one of the biggest teams in the Premier League. They have won maybe the most trophies in the last six or seven years. It’s a massive club and I am proud to sign for Chelsea, and I’m looking forward to playing,” reads a statement attributed to Giroud on the Blues official website.
Since he joined the Gunners in July 2012, only three players have scored more Premier League goals than Olivier Giroud: Sergio Aguero (115), Harry Kane (99) and Romelu Lukaku (96). He was also one of just three Gunners to score double figure goals last season; with Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott the other two.
All three have been sold this January transfer window.
Here below is the official goodbye message to Olivier Giroud from Arsenal FC:
For the scorpion kicks, the bullet headers, the late strikes, the north London derby winner, the FA Cup final assists, the 105 goals, the 253 appearances and for all the hard work and dedication, we want to say…
THANK YOU, OLIVIER GIROUD ??#NaNaNaNaa pic.twitter.com/myIR7FcNXs
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 31, 2018
We’ll have more on the Aubameyang and Batshuayi deals shortly.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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