LOS ANGELES — Major League Soccer is on the cusp of officially signing their newest FIFA World Cup winner, Olivier Giroud, bringing the total number of all-time players with the honor to 17. Currently, two are at Inter Miami (Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets), one is at Atlanta United (Thiago Almada), and soon two will be at LAFC. Fabrizio Romano of The Athletic first confirmed that Olivier Giroud will be joining his former French teammate Hugo Lloris, currently playing as the Black and Gold’s starting goalkeeper, in the summer transfer window.
This March, multiple reports emerged that the AC Milan striker had verbally reached an agreement with the 2022 MLS Cup champions to join in the summer transfer period when his contract with the Serie A club expires. According to the new report, Giroud will be coming to MLS in July on a free transfer after the Euros and has agreed to join the Los Angeles club through December 2025.
LAFC currently have two Designated Player slots available after the quiet departure of their former captain and first-ever player signing Carlos Vela, who, after 6 years, was unable to reach a contract extension agreement as the winter transfer window closed on April 23. New rumors have surfaced regarding the 2019 MLS Golden Boot winner indicating that he is inching closer to joining Liga MX fueling already simmering chatter over his return to Mexico. Vela’s potential move to San Jose Earthquakes fell through during the negotiation phase this spring.
Giroud, who is rumored to have received other offers from Saudi Arabia and Europe, has chosen to sign with LAFC on a contract worth around $3.2 million per year. The 37-year-old striker will fit in as LAFC’s official No. 9 taking over as Kei Kamara’s current role in the autumn months.
Kamara, who has now played 100 minutes for his new team, has yet to score or register an assist, and the Black and Gold’s offense ebbs and flows as lineups and formations change while new team members assimilate into the synergy of the overall club. Giroud, who already has scored 13 goals and had 8 assists in 30 matches in Série A with AC Milan this season, also holds the record for most goals scored for the French national team (57). He would give LAFC a much-needed boost in their goals scored tally this season where they now languish low in 15th place in the MLS Supporters Shield race.
In the last 20 years, MLS has grown from being a destination where aging superstars of the game arrive in their playing twilight years, to a developmental location for up-and-coming young international talent from lesser well-marketed nations, to current day when the league is a melting pot worthy of the global game that welcomes players from all levels to thrive.
MLS currently boasts 85 nationalities, and is the most globally represented league of the top men’s soccer leagues across the world. While the arrival of Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in modern history of the game, marked a pivotal moment and continues to fuel the influx of higher caliber players like his own teammates Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and Luis Suarez, this effect has also been taking place in less publicized clubs – LAFC, being among them. The arrival of French World Cup winner Hugo Lloris inevitably helped convince his friend and colleague Olivier Giroud to choose LAFC as his next destination. Who knows, someday soon Antoine Griezmann could follow.
