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Daniel Childs

Chelsea fans have £18m message for Arsenal fans amid Alvaro Morata deadline day rumours

Even if Chelsea supporters might find themselves bored on deadline day with the complete lack of activity, at least we won't have to worry about re-signing Alvaro Morata.

The Spaniard had suddenly emerged as a surprise deadline day target for Arsenal after their pursuits of Dusan Vlahovic, and Alexander Isak came to nothing.

Morata now appears likely to stay at Juventus, but the desperation of Arsenal fans to sign a striker is apparent.

Very few tears were shed for Morata when he departed Chelsea in July 2019 for Atletico Madrid. His failure to produce the goalscoring threat expected after his £60m arrival two years before brought much criticism.

But this January deadline marks four years since the Blues made another striker signing that turned out a lot better.

Olivier Giroud swapped north for west London as he joined Antonio Conte's Chelsea for a reported fee at the time of £18m.

His mid-season exit coincided with Arsenal's £56m signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

Giroud arrived and soon grew a repour with Chelsea fans scoring in the triumphant FA Cup run and key Premier League games to bring light into what was a pretty disappointing season.

The following year Giroud got better, scoring the bulk of his goals in the Europa League, where he would net the crucial opener against his former club in a 4-1 humiliation in Baku.

With a European trophy to his name over his bruised former employers, he would poke fun in the coach after. With the trophy in hand shouting "Thank You Arsenal" to the delight of Chelsea fans basking in the hilarity of that final.

Giroud's most vital contribution in the Premier League came the following season under Frank Lampard as his goals helped the Blues seal a Champions League qualification spot in a challenging season.

Although Giroud suffered a defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup final in 2020, 12 months later, he would get his hands on a trophy Gunners fans can only dream of holding.

A ridiculous overhead bicycle kick helped Chelsea grab a vital lead over Atletico Madrid in the last-16 Champions League tie. Although he did not start again for Thomas Tuchel in the competition, he was present for the glorious final in Porto.

He was pictured eating breakfast the morning after, grinning at the camera as he peeked around the iconic European Cup that engulfed most of the frame.

Giroud left to AC Milan with only love and support, probably ending up departing the Premier League with more goodwill from Chelsea fans, despite spending six years at The Emirates.

Arsenal can happily have Morata, and Chelsea supporters will forever be thankful you gave us the majestic beauty that was Olivier Giroud at Stamford Bridge.

Make sure you have subscribed to CareFreeChelsea on YouTube! The Fan Brands team along with plenty of your football.london favourites will be producing daily Chelsea content for you to enjoy including match reactions, podcasts, football fun and interviews. You can follow Daniel Childs from the CareFreeChelsea team to keep up to date with his work. If you enjoyed reading this then give my other articles a read below.

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