Stan Collymore reckons comparisons between Olivier Giroud and Thierry Henry are futile after the former broke the latter’s goalscoring record for France.
But still there’s a massive amount of admiration from the former Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and England star turned Mirror Sport expert for what Giroud has done. And a huge appreciation that a proper, old-school centre-forward is front and centre of a record-breaking chat rather than Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe, glorified wingers who know how to score goals — albeit plenty of them.
Collymore said: “Giroud’s achievement in breaking Henry’s goalscoring record for France is a great one. But what people do is compare the players and it’s pointless because they are incomparable.
"Henry was a tour de force for club and country, while Giroud has shown that if you stay fit, healthy, committed and dedicated - and if you have very good players around you, which he has had at international level for the decade or so he has been around - then all that will help you to be in such conversations.
“That isn’t to take away from what is a fantastic achievement by a great pro and, in an era when Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappe are usually talked about in record-breaking conversations, it’s great to see a classic, almost British-style centre-forward right at forefront.
“He seems to be playing with a smile on his face and the record is just desserts for a great pro. But it feels more like the ‘clubman’ award you win in junior football than the mercurial, player’s player award going to the va-va-voom of Henry.”
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Former Arsenal and Chelsea star Giroud, 36, has had a fine career. He left England with four FA Cup winners’ medals — winning three of them with the Gunners — and has a Serie A winners’ medal from last season with AC Milan. He is a World Cup winner, too, having been part of the French side which triumphed in Russia four-and-a-half years ago, and became his nation’s record scorer with his goal against Poland in the round of 16, his 52nd for Les Bleus.
Despite his achievements, Giroud divided opinion at Arsenal. And Collymore added: “I’m not sure Arsenal fans ever truly realised what they had with Giroud but wherever you look, wherever he has gone in his career, he has been a very solid 7/10. And at Arsenal, because they were chasing Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City whoever, then they needed more of an 8/10 or 9/10, someone who can be a genuine match-winner out of nothing, which is what they have got in Gabriel Jesus.
“Also, when you have had a diet of players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Ian Wright and Henry at your club, and Robin Van Persie as well, compared to their match-winner effect, he didn’t have that at Arsenal.
“That meant they looked at him and thought ‘he’s a poor man’s Wright, RVP and Bergkamp’, when in reality as a player he was always 7/10. At the end of his career, we will probably say his achievements have been 8/10 or 9/10, but as an individual, he was probably a 7/10. There’s nothing wrong with that and he has had a fantastic career, no doubt.”
