Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa, Olivier Giroud, Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski - There is one name in this list of strikers who undoubtably stands out to be the least prominent of these centre forwards. That player is, of course, Olivier Giroud, the only player in this list who is yet to help his team mount a serious title challenge, let alone the title itself, in each of his last three seasons.
It should be pointed out that Giroud did help Montpellier to win Ligue 1 in the 2011-2012 season. A season where he contributed impressively with 21 goals and nine assists in 36 starts, not an achievement to be sniffed at when you consider Montpellier are far from being France's most renowned club. In spite of this, Giroud would still be picked out as the weakest striker from the abovementioned list of five on every occasion. He may have won the league in France, but could he do it with Montpellier again? Not many would put money on that being the case and, in the far more superior, competetive Premier League, he still has many doubters who he has yet to win over, including Arsenal's greatest player of all time, Thierry Henry.
You could argue that Aguero, Costa, Suarez, and Lewandowski all currently play within the highest ranked teams within their division, whereas Arsenal are only just starting to tease with suggestions that they are making strides towards football's elite once again. Nevertheless, Costa led Atletico Madrid to a league title, Lewandowski did the same with Borussia Dortmund, and Suarez was inches away from helping Liverpool to win their first title for over 20 years. Aguero may have come into one of England's strongest teams with Manchester City, but he has consistently shown his quality each season, always finishing as one of the highest Premier League goalscorers. With three seasons at Arsenal, Giroud has never scored more than 16 league goals, has never scored a hat-trick, has never finished higher than thirdwith the Gunners, and his best individual achievement in England has seen him win one Player of the Month award.
Giroud offers Arsenal something different
With it all sounding so doom and gloom for the Frenchman, you might wonder what there is exactly to dispute. Well, although he can't currently compete with Europe's best centre forwards, he does still bring a lot to the Arsenal team on his day. His hold-up ability is excellent, as is his ability to link up with Arsenal's intricate attackers. The Gunners have struggled to challenge aerially in the past, and Giroud offers a significant aerial improvement both attackingly and defensively when placed there for opposition's set pieces. He also boasts technical capabilities that are underrated; some of his touches to bring the ball down from the air are sublime, and he does have an eye for a key pass or cross. When Giroud is on form, he can also go on an impressive goalscoring run also, leading Arsenal's astonishing second half of the season by scoring in six league games back-to-back. He offers a physical presence and a degree of unpredictability, which compliments a small Arsenal team that are known to often play with the same style. You also cannot fault the Frenchman's work rate, a component that is becoming more and more essential in modern football.
So with all of these assets that Giroud can offer the Gunners, what is he missing? The first thing that Arsenal fans will tell you is pace. Although Giroud has excellent 'back to goal' capabilities, his inability to get in behind defenders due to his lack of acceleration often leaves the Gunners struggling to break down stubborn, organised defences. Additionally, whilst he did improve in his most recent season, and proved that he can challenge the best strikers when he's on form, when he's struggling with his performances, he can essentially become useless. Passes go astray, aerial battles are lost, and chances are wasted. When someone like Suarez is one-on-one with the 'keeper, it's a shock if the ball doesn't ripple the back of the net. With Olivier Giroud however, you're never quite sure what you're going to get.
So why are strikers like Aguero so sought after? Apart from the obvious fact that they score a lot of goals, they are also often the difference in the tight games where a team is struggling to break down a defence. More crucially, they are able to create something out of nothing in the biggest matches in football. Granted, Giroud managed to score against Manchester City and Liverpool in the recent season, but this isn't something that he is currently associated with being able to do on a consistent basis. Yet whilst it's all well and good saying that Arsenal need a world class striker, something that Giroud is not considered to be, every team in the world wants a wants a centre forward of that calibre; they're not so easily available.
Arsene Wenger could add someone like Jackson Martinez, who Arsenal are strongly linked with, but teams are put off by the fact that his success is currently coming in a weak Portuguese league with Porto; not to mention he turns 29 in October. There is also someone like Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain, who has long been touted to becoming an Arsenal player. Higuain has a respectable goal scoring record, but as Wenger would quite rightly point out, they reveal similar statistics to that of Olivier Giroud, which is a fair assessment. Nevertheless, if Arsenal can't obtain a guaranteed world class striker, shouldn't they at least be taking a punt with someone in the next category down, like Higuain, to challenge Giroud for his position? Wouldn't this push and help Giroud into becoming a better striker and to keep him fresh for the entire campaign?
Challengers from within
Giroud may not have proved his title-challenging capabilities over an entire season, but that does not mean that he can't contribute to a title challenge in patches. If you look at the entirety of Arsenal's squad, the striker position is arguably the one where they are lacking in numbers most. You could say that Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott, and Alexis Sanchez have something to say that about that, but none of those players are currently recognised as mainly being centre forwards. Welbeck was supposedly brought in to keep Giroud on his toes and challenge him for his position, but he spent most of his time contributing on the flanks, failing to impress with his lack of composure infront of goal. Yet if Arsenal did convert one of these abovementioned players in to someone who mainly challenges Giroud for his centre forward position, then Giroud might well be more respected for a title challenge as he can be rotated according to his fitness and form.
Even so, whilst all of Martinez, Higuain, Welbeck, and Walcott have a case of becoming a useful regular striker to challenge Giroud for his position and assist him to a title challenge, none of them currently obtain the reputation of being the world class match winner that Arsenal fans are crying out for either way. Yet the striker doesn't necessarily have to be the star player in a football team. Eden Hazard is Chelsea's most consistent match winner, with Sanchez being the same for Arsenal. Though the difference between the two is that Hazard has strong support from Costa who challenges him for his importance, whereas Arsenal are struggle to test Sanchez in this regard. If Welbeck or Walcott are shifted to become a regular centre forward, perhaps another one of Arsenal's renowned match winners can come from another area of the pitch to replace the vacancy left by them. Wenger could purchase a top attacking name on the flanks, like Marco Reus, who might be more obtainable than centre forward in the mould of Lewandowski.
One thing is for certain, Arsenal need clarity over who the main player will be to challenge, and indeed, assist Giroud for his centre forward position next season. Will Wenger convert a player that he already has, or recruit someone to add some fresh qualities? Additionally, if Arsenal can't obtain that desired world class striker upfront, can Wenger find a player of that calibre in another area of the pitch? Whatever he does decide to do, whilst Giroud might never be the world class title-winning striker that Arsenal fans dream of having again, he can certainly help the team to challenge for the title next season regardless of that fact. This, of course, is assuming that he has another main striker, or star player, to assist him along the way.