Olivier Giroud completes free summer transfer to LAFC from AC Milan ahead of Euro 2024

LAFC has appeared to secure the signature of AC Milan star and French international Olivier Giroud on a free transfer as reports of an agreement between the player and club have emerged.

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Giroud signed a contract to join the Black and Gold this summer on Tuesday, just a month after verbally agreeing to join the MLS side in March. His new contract will run until December 2025. 

Giroud will join close pal and longtime France teammate Hugo Lloris in Los Angeles next season. 

‘Giroud can be considered new LAFC player,’ Romano shared on X barely a day after AC Milan’s loss to rivals Internazionale (2-1) on Monday, as the Rossonieri conceded this year’s Serie A title race in the process. 

Earlier this spring, Giroud was linked with a move to the U.S., Saudi Arabia and even staying in Europe, but appears that he’s now made his mind up. He’ll earn $3.2million a year as a Los Angeles FC player, according to ESPN.

The former Arsenal and Chelsea striker has bagged 13 goals and eight assists in 30 Serie A games with Milan so far this season and is still part of Didier Deschamps’ France squad. 

Giroud owns the record for the most goals scorer for the French national team (57 in 131 caps). 

He will move to LA after playing in Euro 2024 in Germany where France is considered heavy favorites for the title. 

LAFC signed 39-year-old striker Kei Kamara last week to boost its scoring woes this season, after parting ways with Carlos Vela in 2023. 

The 38-year-old, who’s scored 276 goals in nearly 700 club appearances in his career, will join former France teammate and goalkeeper Hugo Llloris in LA. Both seen at the 2022 World Cup

After nine games of the 2024 season, the Black and Gold sit in seventh place in the Western Conference with a 3-3-3 record. Giroud will bolster an attack featuring MLS golden boot winner Denis Bouanga. 

The MLS will be Giroud’s sixth different league in his career after starting in the National (third division), Ligue 2 and Ligue 1 in Franche with Grenoble, Istres, Tours, and Montpellier, where he won the French title in 2012. 

He then moved to England to play in the Premier League, first with Arsenal, where he won three FA Cups, and then Chelsea, where he lifted the Champions League, the Europa League and the FA Cup. He joined AC Milan in 2021, winning the Serie A title in his first season.

Giroud, who has scored 276 times in nearly 700 appearances at club level, was also part of France’s World Cup winning squad in 2018, playing in all seven matches. He also played for France at two other World Cups and three European Championships.