EXCLUSIVE | Jérémie Aliadière: ‘Olivier Giroud’s underrated, and there should be way more recognition.’ | OneFootball

Former Lorient and Arsenal player Jérémie Aliadière sat down with Get French Football News to discuss Lorient’s return to Ligue 1 and Olivier Giroud’s move back to France after he left for Arsenal in 2012.

Lorient won promotion back to Ligue 1 last season. What have you made of their return to the top flight?

Very pleased. Very happy to see them back at the top. But I am concerned, I don’t want them to become one of those clubs that come up down up down up down. I think this year will be the toughest, toughest year for them. I think if you can stay up the first season, you can start recruiting better players, maybe more experienced players. And the second year, hopefully, should be better. But yeah, obviously fantastic year last season in Ligue 2. And now it’s the beginning of the new season. It hasn’t been catastrophic, but it hasn’t been fantastic either. It’s going to be a battle right to the end to stay up, but I do believe they have the quality to manage that.

Looking at the teams around them, do you think the squad is good enough or do they need to invest a bit more?

You know it’s always easy to say, let’s invest more, let’s buy a new player. You’ve got to remember the clubs in France are nowhere near the financial situation of clubs in England. So you see in England, a club comes up, they would be able to spend £40m on a player. Not in France. You don’t have that kind of revenue and that kind of budget. Knowing the chairman really well, how clever he is, and how good with money he is, and how he tries to find players who will make a profit… that’s what Lorient is about: trying to get good players at a cheap price and make them a better player and sell them on. So obviously, as a Lorient fan, looking at it from the outside, I’d love for them to go and find top players and well-known names, but I know it’s not possible. So you’ve got to deal with the quality in the squad and, hopefully, the manager will be able to work with what he’s got and stay up.

How hard has it been to replace Eli Junior Kroupi?

It is hard, but what you’ve got to remember is he had a great season last year in Ligue 2. I know the previous year in Ligue 1, he played well as well, but obviously, in Ligue 2, the level is not the same. So he’s had a fantastic season, moved on to Bournemouth, and done alright so far for Bournemouth. But you’ve just got to think players, like Eli Junior Kroupi, are hard to replace. At a club like Lorient, you don’t just go and spend £10-20m on a player and just replace somebody. They’ve got to produce a player from the academy or go and get a young player that’s got potential, but is not the end product. And that’s what Lorient are looking to do. When you lose a player of that quality, it’s always going to be hard. But knowing Lorient, they’ve managed to do it for years and years, losing their top player, their goal scorer, and then a few years later, you get another one to come in. So I’m hoping that will be the case again.

Is there another player in the squad that you could see being on the radar of Premier League clubs?

I like Pablo Pagis. He’s not a striker, but he’s already scored a few goals. I like his style of play. He’s got great quality going forward. He’s got a great football brain. But there are other players who are good as well. It’s, like we were talking about, just about getting a defensive base and being well-organised, hard to beat, and that’s what Lorient are based on; being well organised and just having those players that will offensively make a difference.

Olivier Giroud is back in Ligue 1 for the first time since leaving for Arsenal in 2012. Is there a sense that he’s still somewhat underrated outside of France?

He’s a world-class player, a world-class finisher, but I do understand how some people might not like his style of play. That’s probably why he’s very underrated in my view. The job that he does and the goals that he scores are unique, and there’s not many players that can play the same way and that can still be effective at his age. And that’s why he can still be that good at his age, it’s just that little movement, and the finishing, and everything. You don’t need to be young and sharp; you just need to be experienced and clever. I do definitely agree with the fact that he’s underrated, and there should be way more recognition and be recongised as a top, top player.

Jérémie Aliadière was speaking exclusively to Get French Football News on behalf of WhichBookie.

GFFN | Nick Hartland