OLIVIER GIROUD looks set to pull the curtain down on a trophy-laden career.
, who turns 40 this week, dropped the strongest hint yet that he will be hanging his boots up at the end of this season in an interview with French newspaper L’Équipe.
Giroud was recounting his career at the highest level, and was best known on these shores for his spells at and .
He said: “We can do interviews for L’Équipe next year, with pleasure, but as a player, I think this is very likely my last season. That’s why I’m enjoying every moment.”
The striker arrived at Arsenal from Montpellier in June 2012, scoring 105 goals in 253 appearances in all competitions.
He won three FA Cups in North London, .
Another FA Cup winners’ medal would follow, before winning the and in 2019 and 2021 respectively.
Giroud was an unused substitute in that , and would go on to join the summer.
He added a Serie A winners’ medal to his trophy cabinet in 2021/22, and became France’s then-record at the 2022 World Cup.
The forward applied a deft finish from Kylian Mbappe’s pass,.
by netting a brace in a 3-1 World Cup win over Senegal last summer, and paid tribute to the frontman after the game.
Giroud – who worked as a BBC pundit at this summer’s World Cup – retired from international football after Euro 2024, with his final Les Bleus appearance coming from the substitute bench in the 2-1 semi-final loss to eventual champions Spain.
He also holds the record for being France’s oldest-ever player after featuring in a friendly against Luxembourg a month previously at the age of 37 and eight months.
After a short stint in the MLS with Los Angeles FC, Giroud returned to French football with Lille at the start of this season and has scored one goal in six appearances across all competitions to date.
