• Premier League

Giroud negotiating new Arsenal deal

ESPN staff
May 28, 2014
Olivier Giroud still has two years left on his Arsenal contract © Getty Images
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Olivier Giroud is in talks with Arsenal about a contract extension despite claiming Arsene Wenger's team need to grow up and, sometimes, be prepared to play ugly.

There had been suggestions that the striker, 27, who is already committed to the club until 2016, may be sold this summer but instead is set to follow Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Laurent Koscielny in signing a new deal.

Kallstrom could return to Arsenal

Kim Kallstrom made only one start for Arsenal © PA Photos
  • One of the strangest signings of last season, Kim Kallstrom, has refused to rule out a return to Arsenal. The midfielder was injured when he joined on loan from Spartak Moscow at the end of January and made only one start and three substitute appearances for the club.
  • However, Swede Kallstrom told fotbollskanalen.se: "They were very happy with my performance and what I was there to do so it felt good. We'll see. It was a very good experience. I have a year left on my contract in Russia. Everyone knows that now is a period in which a lot can happen and the last word has not been spoken yet."

"I have two years left on my contract, but we're in talks to extend it," Giroud told Midi Libre. "For the moment, I'm good here. There are some good things to be done.

"I feel at ease in this league. My first season wasn't too bad, the second was rather good. I hope to do better still. I progress year-on-year, just like the team, which produces great play."

Giroud wants to see improvements at Arsenal next season, nonetheless. The France forward, who scored twice in a 4-0 World Cup warm-up win against Norway on Tuesday, claims they need to grow up after throwing away their title challenge.

"We were ahead for a good half of the season, and then we cracked," he said, having scored 16 Premier League goals and laid on a further eight in 36 matches last season.

"We lacked maturity; we had a lot of injuries at a tricky time. Above all, we weren't able to adapt to the big teams, and we often went off the rails in big games. We have to improve in those matches, perhaps we have to try to play less. But it's hard with the playing philosophy we have."

Arsenal's FA Cup dramatic triumph against Hull may have given Giroud some reassurance about the future - or at least softened the blow of their Premier League disappointment.

"The Cup, it's not nothing in England," the striker, who signed from Montpellier in 2012, said. "Especially given the scenario of the final. There was a lot of expectation, great fervour among the supporters. It reminded me of what I had when Montpellier won the title."

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