Giroud told to leave Arsenal

Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud has been urged to quit Arsenal in the January transfer window or risk missing out on a World Cup spot, report football.london.

Speaking in an interview on French TV, assistant to the national team Guy Stephan said that the forward is not playing enough this season to justify a call up in the summer.

The 31-year-old faces stiff competition leading into the tournament with Alexandre Lacazette, Anthony Martial, Kevin Gameiro and Kylian Mbappe all in contention to take the Arsenal attacker’s place.

Antoine Griezmann is another option although he has often played his best football when deployed as a secondary striker just off Giroud, but despite his record at international level the centre-forward will struggle to get into the squad if Stephan is to be believed.

“It’s clear that he is not getting enough playing time and Didier has already spoken to him about it,” the French assistant manager told Telefoot. “He has to find a solution in the coming weeks.

“A departure? It is up to him. He’s been very good in the past [for France] and he’s played a lot of games and scored very important goals, so now he has to play.”