"I always want more, and I'm determined to keep going and do even better this year." Olivier Giroud said that. At 39. Ahead of a Champions League campaign. It's hard to argue with a man who has collected a World Cup, a Serie A title, a Premier League, a Champions League, and is still finding ways to be useful in top-level European football.
Lille have confirmed Giroud has signed a one-year extension, keeping him at the Ligue 1 club for a second season after joining from LAFC in 2025. He turns 40 in September. He scored four Europa League goals last season as Lille finished third and punched into the Champions League. That's not a soft contribution — that's a striker delivering when it counts.
What this means for Lille's season
The context matters here. Lille are stepping up from Europa League to Champions League football, and they're doing it under a new head coach — Davide Ancelotti, who replaced Bruno Genesio this summer. A squad navigating a coaching change and a competition jump doesn't exactly want to lose its most experienced forward at the same time. Keeping Giroud provides continuity, leadership, and — when Lille need a goal in a tight group-stage game — a striker who has already proven he can deliver in Europe.
Giroud said he doesn't know Ancelotti personally but is open to the new dynamic: "He's a coach with fresh ideas. I'm convinced he has a lot to offer the club." Whether Davide can step out of his father Carlo's shadow is one of the more interesting subplots in French football this season. Giroud's buy-in is a reasonable start.
The career behind the contract
For context on just how long this man has been doing this: Giroud left Montpellier for Arsenal in 2012 for around £12m. He spent six seasons at the Emirates — 105 goals, 38 assists, three FA Cups — and was routinely dismissed as a flop by the English press. Chelsea paid £15m for him in January 2018, he went on to top-score in their Champions League run to the title in 2021. Then Milan, a Serie A winner's medal in 2022, then MLS, now back in France.
He retired from international football as France's all-time leading scorer with 57 goals in 137 games. Kylian Mbappé sits one behind him on 56 — though Mbappé's five off-target shots against Northern Ireland this week suggest that record isn't being broken immediately.
Across everything — Montpellier, Arsenal, Chelsea, Milan, LAFC, Lille — Giroud is past 300 club goals and 800 appearances. Those numbers take more than talent. They take a specific kind of professionalism that doesn't age the same way pace does.
He described Lille as "most certainly" the final club of his career. If so, a Champions League farewell season is about as fitting an exit as you're likely to find. Lille at 4-3 odds to qualify from their group just got a more interesting case.
