When taking stock of the career of Olivier Giroud, 37, Jérôme Rothen believes that the 2018 world champion has not left his mark on the history of club football. Despite having a Champions League and a Europa League to his name.
The end is approaching for Olivier Giroud. At 37, after an exceptional career at the highest level (even if he started at 24 in Ligue 1), the center forward of the 2018 world champion French team will leave AC Milan at the end of contract, as of June 30. It is even the European scene to which he will say goodbye, just after Euro 2024 played in Germany with Didier Deschamps’ French team, to sign for the Los Angeles FC of his friend Hugo Lloris.
In his show on RMC on Wednesday, Jérôme Rothen explained that Giroud had not had a great club career. “At club level, apart from Montpellier… Not like he made history with the French team. The problem is that the stats are there to confirm it, he has not established himself at the club. Everywhere he went, he went from starting status to substitute status, then, at Chelsea, to replacement of the substitute. Someone who left his mark on the history of European football, he’s a guy who was a starter all the time, everywhere”argues the radio consultant.
An LDC, a Europa League and a Serie A on the clock
At Arsenal from 2012 to 2018, Giroud was the team’s essential center forward, extremely valuable to his teammates. But the Gunners have only won three FA Cups with the Isérois at the forefront. At Chelsea then, Giroud was able to regain his place in the rotation and fully participated in the victorious journeys in the Champions League (in 2021) and in the Europa League (in 2019, he also finished top scorer in the competition after having opened the score in the final against the Gunners…).
Rothen concluded: “Sorry, did he make Arsenal history? No ? From Chelsea? No. From Milan? There, he surprised me, when he signed for Milan, for me, he was a replacement. Last year (it was in 2022, editor’s note), the title, they also owe him a lot. Unfortunately, it was in Milan. He did it at Montpellier, not at Arsenal and Chelsea”. With Mike Maignan, Olivier Giroud literally gave the Rossoneri the scudetto, by overturning a derby against Inter with a double in February 2022, before scoring the coronation goals three months later…
