Premier League outfit West Ham are lining up a sensational summer swoop for Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, according to The Daily Mirror.
The 30-year-old moved to the Emirates Stadium back in 2012 after a prolific goal-scoring spell in France, and has since then gone on to net 98 times in 227 games for the Gunners, with 69 of those strikes coming in the Premier League.
However, last term saw the Frenchman start just 11 times under Arsene Wenger in the league, and although he still scored 12 goals in the top-flight, his lack of playing time has been the subject of his frustration in recent weeks, with the forward stating that he will not ‘settle for another year with such little playing time’.
And these comments have clearly alerted Slaven Bilic’s West Ham, who are reportedly looking to land Giroud this summer as they look to strengthen their attacking options.
The Hammers scored 47 goals in their 38 Premier League games last term but only 15 of those came from their strikers, of which Andy Carroll contributed seven just by himself.
And with the quartet of Andre Ayew, Jonathan Calleri, Ashley Fletcher, and Diafra Sakho bagging just eight between them, it’s clear that Bilic needs to bolster his attacking ranks if his men are to go near to replicating their seventh place finish in the 2015/16 campaign.
And given that Giroud has managed to net over ten times in each of his five seasons in England, he may well be the answer to Bilic’s problems, but whether West Ham can fend off interest from Marseille to land the striker very much remains to be seen.