Arsenal signing Olivier Giroud admits his road to London wasn't a smooth one.
Giroud took Ligue 1 by storm, topping the scoring charts with 21 goals in 36 games as Montpellier claimed a surprise title win in May. The 25-year-old has also broken into the France squad and says he appreciates his career more because it took time to take off.
"Yes, I'm conscious of the path I took to get here," Giroud told Arsenal Player.
"I'm proud of that and how I got here. I can see what happened to me until now and I hope to continue to progress and show that I can impose myself at the top level. It's been great right now, I want to live it to the full, and I'll savour this chance.
"At youth level, I didn't get my chance, so I wasn't able to 'explode'. There were strikers who played instead of me, so I had to go elsewhere, that tends to happen when a player doesn't get much playing time.
"I was loaned out, so to speak, to a lower division club, and I moved up season after season. I proved that I was good enough and season after season I scored goals, so I hope to be scoring a few goals next season in the Premier League too."
