Once again pushed to one side by Arsène Wenger in favour of other forwards, Olivier Giroud is having to feed himself off whatever time his manager gives him off the bench.
Yet to start in the Premier League, the France international has played more minutes in two Europa League appearances (180) than he has domestically (133 minutes in 7 games).
Despite this, Didier Deschamps keeps picking Giroud for the national team as whenever he has played recently, he tends to score, and for one of his former teammates, Younes Belhanda, it’s the right choice.
Speaking to RMC Sport, he said: “For me, Olivier is one of the best forwards in his role. He’s someone who keeps the ball up really well, who knows how to make his number 10 or his wingers play because he has a target man game few strikers have.
After his performance at the Euros, especially later on in the competition when Didier Deschamps decided to switch formation, Belhanda feels the Arsenal striker ‘100%’ deserves his place in the squad.
Signing a new contract at the Emirates not too long ago, the 31-year-old is set to stay with the Gunners until 2020, unless he decides to leave beforehand.
While this probably won’t happen during the current season, if his campaign continues to go the way it has done so far, with only scraps of league football every week, he might end up needing to go elsewhere come June.
