LOS ANGELES, 14 May: World Cup-winning French striker Olivier Giroud is signing with Los Angeles FC.
\nLAFC formally announced the long-anticipated move Tuesday for the 37-year-old Giroud, who leaves Europe after 18 years in the top professional leagues in France, England and Italy. Giroud confirmed Monday that he would leave AC Milan for a Major League Soccer club.
\nLAFC general manager John Thorrington said the club has been eager to add Giroud since last fall, and it attempted to land his services in the January transfer window. The 2022 MLS Cup champions and 2023 runners-up then decided to wait for Giroud to become available this summer, rather than signing another offensive star for the current season.
\n\u201cThe way he fits really complements our attacking group,\u201d Thorrington told The Associated Press. \u201cWe do have some incredible attackers already here, but I think he will elevate us \u2014 not just with his own productivity, but I think what you see with his ability is he\u2019s not just a pure goal-scorer. He is very good at facilitating play, and that\u2019s what we saw, which is so compelling.\u201d
\nGiroud is best known for his six prolific seasons at Arsenal from 2012-18, followed by three years apiece at Chelsea and Milan. He has scored 285 goals in 716 matches during his club career while winning a wealth of trophies, including a Champions League triumph with Chelsea three years ago.
\nGiroud also is a star for the French national team, scoring a record 57 goals and playing for Les Bleus\u2019 World Cup winners in 2018. He is expected to play again for France at this year\u2019s at the European Championship, which begins next month.
\nIt\u2019s unclear exactly when Giroud will debut for LAFC, given his international commitments and the need to pace his recovery after a full season at Milan. Defender Giorgio Chiellini didn\u2019t make his LAFC debut until mid-July after signing with the club in May 2022 following a full season at Juventus.
\nGiroud will finish up a solid season for Milan with two more matches. He is currently fourth in Serie A with 14 goals, and he is among the league\u2019s top overall playmakers as well.
\n\u201cHis productivity is incredible,\u201d Thorrington said. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had just a pure goal-scorer. That\u2019s not the way we play. I think his combination of skill sets, with his ability to link play, his ability to finish, his tactical mentality, we think he\u2019ll be an incredible addition.\u201d
\nLAFC is fifth in MLS\u2019 Western Conference at 5-4-3, but manager Steve Cherundolo\u2019s team isn\u2019t currently struggling to score goals while led by Denis Bouanga. The French-born forward who represents Gabon internationally tops LAFC with six goals, and the club\u2019s 22 goals in league play are more than every MLS team except Lionel Messi\u2019s Inter Miami and crosstown rival LA Galaxy.
\nGiroud will be reunited at LAFC with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, his longtime teammate for France. Lloris left Tottenham to sign with LAFC ahead of this season, and both stars have young families who embraced the chance to live in sunny Los Angeles. Giroud and his wife, Jennifer, have four children.
\n\u201cI think it helps that we have one of his best friends in football in Hugo as our goalkeeper,\u201d Thorrington said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s coming just because of that, but I think that did enable conversations at a different level than I could have with him. What\u2019s it like to play there? What\u2019s it like for your family? That helped Olivier make the decision.\u201d
\nGiroud\u2019s years of club success and World Cup stardom have made him an international star with a famous face. But Thorrington said that\u2019s not the primary motivation for the move by LAFC, which also signed MLS Cup Final hero Gareth Bale for a brief, trophy-winning stint in 2022.
\nLAFC\u2019s roster is built on a bedrock of talent from throughout North and South America, but headlined in recent years by European luminaries \u2014 from Chiellini and Bale to Bouanga and Giroud.
\n\u201cWe are a star town, and we\u2019ve never shied away from (the fact) that matters in LA,\u201d Thorrington said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t ever invest because of just that. It needs to be the right combination, but certainly when our owners met with Olivier and you can see his hunger to win, it\u2019s very clear that he\u2019s coming here to help bring this club to the success that everybody wants.\u201d (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOS ANGELES, 14 May: World Cup-winning French striker Olivier Giroud is signing with Los Angeles FC. LAFC formally announced the long-anticipated move Tuesday for the 37-year-old Giroud, who leaves Europe after 18 years in the top professional leagues in France, England and Italy. Giroud confirmed Monday that he would leave AC Milan for a Major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-240358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}