Besiktas want to sign Olivier Giroud if they sell Negredo to China as rumoured, despite recent links between the Turkish club and Danny Welbeck.

Turkish outlet Milliyet write that Besiktas want either a loan with an option to buy or a permanent deal for the Frenchman.

They particularly want to sign Giroud because the 31-year-old has only played in the Europa League this season. He’s therefore still eligible for the Champions League knockout rounds with the Black Eagles who are set to face Bayern Munich.

On Saturday, we reported rumours that Besiktas sent officials to meet with Danny Welbeck.

Perhaps those officials were really in London to meet with Giroud instead.

The former Montpellier man is still recovering from injury though, so they couldn’t scout him live. He is expected to return in two weeks, perhaps in time for the game against Swansea just before the window shuts.

He should certainly should be fit enough for a basic medical by then.

It will come down to whether he really wants to go, in my opinion.

Over the summer, Giroud committed to Arsenal, for whatever reason, but it seemed like he had the option to leave if he wanted to.

Since then, he’s only started one Premier League game. I expect Wenger would let him leave if that’s what he asks for with a World Cup on the horizon. Wenger is ridiculously unselfish in cases like this.

Can Arsenal really afford to lose Alexis, Walcott and Giroud in this window without replacing them adequately? Given this season’s problems to date, the answer would seem to be a resounding no!