Former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud will turn 39 later this month, so when his one-year deal at MLS side Los Angeles FC came to an end this summer, many believed that he would bring the curtain down on his career.
Ranked at no.12 on FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest French players ever, Giroud is the France national team’s all-time leading goalscorer, led the line for Les Bleus in their victorious 2018 World Cup campaign and has won trophies in five countries.
The striker left Europe for a season in California last year, but when his time at LAFC came to an end in June he opted to return to his homeland, signing with Europa League hopefuls Lille.
Olivier Giroud reveals he turned down Arsenal reunion
Giroud’s move to Lille meant a return to Ligue 1 after 13 years, during which time he enjoyed spells at Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan.
With two goals in his first two games, he has hit the ground running, but admitted he had a choice to make this summer, with the opportunity to reunite with a former Arsenal team-mate.
Giroud and Laurent Koscielny played together 256 times for Arsenal, France and Tours FC, and the defender, who is now sporting director at FC Lorient, provided his old friend another option this summer.
“He sounded me out,” Giroud has told Canal Plus, as per GetFootball. “I was honest with him. I told him that there was a chance the adventure [with LAFC] would end this summer because it didn’t make sense to stay when I wasn’t enjoying myself. So he stepped into the breach. ‘Lolo’ [Koscielny] and I are close.
“When I had Lille, I had to say, ‘Mate, these are two different projects. You’re promoted and will be playing to stay up, and with Lille, it is something else.
“They’re playing in Europe and at the top of the table in Ligue 1’. He understood.”
During their time together at Arsenal, Koscielny and Giroud won three FA Cups and a pair of Community Shields, with Giroud leaving for Chelsea in 2018 and Koscielny departing for Bordeaux a year later.
Koscielny hung up his boots in 2022 and a year later was appointed head coach of Lorient’s under-17 before being appointed the club’s sporting director in 2024, with the club winning the Ligue 2 title last season.
