Arsene Wenger refuses to sanction any transfer deal involving Olivier Giroud

Arsene Wenger has revealed that he has no intentions of selling Olivier Giroud this summer as Arsenal need him to put in a title challenge next season. The Gunners are in the market for a striker and the club have been repeatedly linked with a player plus cash deal involving Giroud to land their top targets.

The 30-year-old has scored 16 goals in all competitions for the north London club but has made only 11 starts in the league, which has led to speculation over his future. With the World Cup approaching next year, he is keen for more game time so as to keep himself in contention to start for Didier Deschamp's first team squad. He has been in brilliant form for his national team and thereby wants more time on the pitch to keep his scoring run going.

However, Wenger has refused to sanction any such deal and stressed that he is an important player for the Gunners coming in from the bench, citing the six goals he has scored.

"It has been a frustrating season for him because he has not played a lot. And when he has played well, he has not always played the next match. He has won us a lot of points when he has come on because he has scored lots of times. He has qualities that our team need," Wenger said, as quoted by the Mirror.

The Gunners have been linked with a move for Kylian Mbappe, with talk of Giroud being included in the deal to sweeten the transfer for Monaco. A similar swap has been proposed in the transfer of Alexandre Lacazette to north London, with Lyon reportedly keen on bringing the former Montpellier man back to France. West Ham are also keen on the striker to alleviate their goalscoring woes.