Done Deal – Arsenal Agree £80,000-A-Week For World Cup Star

Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Arsenal have agreed a two year contract extension with striker Oliver Giroud. The contract is expected to take Oliver Giroud’s wages to £80,000 a week. The Frenchman confirmed this during his press conference on Tuesday. Of the contract, he said:

“It’s done. We want stability and to keep the core of our team together. Giroud is an important player here. It is agreed. When it is completely done, we will announce it.”

Oliver Giroud is currently injured with a fractured fibula; he has been at the heart of Arsenal’s attacking play in the last two seasons before he got injured. The French international, 27 had scored 41 goals in all competitions for Arsenal before that injury setback, he scored 17 in his first season, he improved on that with 22 goals in his second season, while he was on two goals before the leg break.

His contract extension means the club has essentially tied the core of it players to long term deals in the last 18 months. Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Santi Cazorla, and the British core of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs have also been tied to long term deals.

The policy of the club has changed from what obtains in previous years when contract of players were allowed to run down thereby giving the player the leverage when it came to transfer negotiations. This is was what transpired in the case of Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Robin Van Persie, as they were both in the last year of their contract when they left the club.

It is a lesson learnt from those at Highbury House about the need to tie key players to new contract, in order to prevent a situation of losing them to a rival as was the case in the aforementioned players.

However, it must said that contract extensions are a mutually exclusive thing as both player and the club have to come to an agreement on that front. Although, in the past, Arsenal have allowed player’s contract to run dangerously close to the climax, the players have also played a role in that by declining to extend at the first instance. But the landscape has changed at Arsenal, and there is no doubt that the new financial clot of the club has played a role in the new found wave to quickly tie players down to new deals.

The extension granted to Oliver Giroud would only serve as boost to the French international as this have been done at time he is injured. It was the same with Aaron Ramsey, when despite the wave of criticism he faced two years ago, he was granted a two contract, and that served as a catalyst in the upturn in his form.