Younes Belhanda says Olivier Giroud is the best target man in the world

Galatasaray midfielder Younes Belhanda believes that there is not a striker in the world who is better than his former teammate Olivier Giroud in being a target man. The duo beat all odds to win the French Ligue 1 title in 2011/12 with Montpellier, following which he made his way to Arsenal and has been a focal point point of their attack for much of his tenure.

However, he has been on the fringes of late, with Arsene Wenger preferring a more mobile striker up front. The Frenchman has not started a single game thus far in the league but has come on as a substitute during all the six games, while starting in the Europa League and the Carabao Cup.

The 30-year-old made just 11 Premier League starts last season and was linked with moves to Everton and West Ham United following the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette. But after the start of the campaign, Giroud committed himself to Arsenal for the remaining two years of his contract.

The ex-Montpellier frontman went on to net 100 goals for the Gunners after scoring against BATE Borisov in the Europa League and hopes to continue his goal-scoring form for the Gunners further into the season. The France international became the 19th player to score 100 goals for the north London club.

However, his decision to stay has not gone down well with France manager Didier Deschamps, who is not pleased with the striker not playing regularly in the league

"For me, Olivier is one of the best forwards in his role," Belhanda told RMC Sport, as quoted by Goal.com. "He's someone who keeps the ball up really well, who knows how to make his number 10 or his wingers play because he has a target man-game few strikers have.

"There isn't a striker in the world who's better than him as a target man. Especially with the France team, he scores, so you can't hold anything against him. At club level, he doesn't play that much, but when you have a player in the national team who scores and helps the team win, you can't say anything."