Olivier Giroud will complete his journey under the California sun: the top scorer of the French team has agreed with Los Angeles FC, where he will meet his friend Hugo Lloris this summer.
Another world champion in the “Golden State”. From August 1, the record goal scorer with the Blues, 57 in 131 caps, will wear the black and gold jersey of the megalopolis of the American West.
Giroud will sign for a year and a half, plus an optional year, we learned on Tuesday from those around him, confirming information from RMC and Le Parisien.
After Euro-2024 (June 14-July 14), he will join his new team. This means that he will not be able to strengthen the French team for the Paris Olympic Games (July 26-August 11).
Olivier Giroud (left) and Hugo Lloris on November 26, 2022 in Doha during the World Cup. The most prolific striker of the French team and the selection record holder will return this summer in the jersey of Los Angeles FC / Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP/Archives
The striker, who will celebrate his 38th birthday on September 30, has been imagining the end of his career in California for some time, where he will once once more rub shoulders with his best friend in the French team, Hugo Lloris. The ex-captain of the Blues, who retired internationally following the 2022 World Cup, signed for LAFC this winter.
The longevity of Giroud’s career is “his merit”, said coach Didier Deschamps in September. “He has the physique that allows him, the healthy lifestyle certainly also, the mental, this desire to maintain himself at a high level… A few years ago 35 was a bit of the limit, today not barely get close to 40 or even get there.”
Objectif play-offs
Olivier Giroud in training on May 18, 2012 at Grammont Park in Montpellier. That year, the Hérault team, of which he was the spearhead, was crowned champion of France / Pascal GUYOT / AFP/Archives
Competing with Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani for a place at the forefront of the Blues’ attack at the Euro, Giroud will then join the club from the City of Angels, founded in 2014. Not to be confused with the LA Galaxy where notably played by David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he is currently ranked 7th in the Western Conference of MLS, the North American championship.
After three seasons in Milan, where he was Italian champion (2022), Giroud will join other former Ligue 1 players in MLS, Lionel Messi at Inter Miami or Denis Bouanga, also at LAFC, his eighth club.
Trained in Grenoble, he passed through Istres and Tours before exploding in Montpellier, where he was French champion in 2012.
He then played nine seasons in England, at Arsenal (2012-2018) and Chelsea (2018-2021), with whom he won the 2021 Champions League.
Olivier Giroud following scoring a goal in the Arsenal jersey once morest West Ham on March 14, 2015 at the Emirates Stadium in London / IAN KINGTON / AFP/Archives
Giroud will arrive for the end of the regular season, decisive for qualification for the play-offs, which begin in October.
He might play his first “Trafico”, the derby between the Galaxy and LAFC, an allusion to the monstrous car traffic in Los Angeles, on September 15.
Crowned champions in 2022 and unfortunate finalists once morest the Columbus Crew last year, the “Faucons” constitute one of the strongholds of MLS.
Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini also played at LAFC, where Welsh striker Gareth Bale also had a brief, lackluster stint (13 matches, 3 goals).
One of the club’s owners is Peter Gruber, film producer, former boss of Columbia Pictures. He notably produced Taxi Driver and Batman with Michael Keaton. We might call the Blues’ top scorer “Giroullywood”.
