Saturday 10 December 2016 00:21, UK
Arsene Wenger says he wants Olivier Giroud to extend his contract with Arsenal but admits he is finding it difficult to keep the French striker happy.
The 30-year-old has fallen down the pecking order this season with Alexis Sanchez thriving as the team's first-choice option up front.
Giroud is out of contract at the end of next season but despite Wenger admitting he cannot keep all of his players happy, he wants to keep his compatriot at the Emirates.
"How do we keep them all happy? Honestly I don't know," he said of his forwards.
"If you have only one striker, the press says 'why don't you buy another striker?' Once you buy one more they say 'how can you keep him happy?'
"We are in a world where you have to know where you want to be and in my case I want Giroud to stay, I want Giroud to extend his contract.
"After he has to live with the competition and for me he is a very important player at the club, on the pitch and off the pitch.
"I want him to stay, he has to decide if he can live with what is going on but personally I like Giroud very much."
Wenger has previous experience in juggling a host of attacking talent in an attempt to keep them happy, but insists he would rather have a player badgering him to play instead of simply accepting the fact he is out of the side.
"We had Kanu, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, a young Robin Van Persie. It's never easy," he added.
"You cannot keep them all happy but our job is we produce every weekend unhappy people.
"It's part of the job at every club. At Stoke on Saturday only 11 will start. Look at every squad in the Premier League, everybody has internationals on the bench.
"The dangers in our job, the real danger is players who are just happy to be there."
