by Lee Hurley

Olivier Giroud has tweeted his sadness at the passing of Tiburce Darou.

The former Arsenal trainer, who was integral in helping Robert Pires to recover from his cruciate knee ligament injury, passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning after battling a long illness. He had also helped Giroud after the striker broke his leg at the start of the 14/15 season.

Taking to his Twitter account, Giroud said

“Tiburce, who helped me to return stronger after my injury! #RIP #respect #grandmonsieur”

Robert Pires also spoke at length about the man he classed as a friend.