Giroud, others discuss what it's like to move on Deadline Day - ESPN
Transfer Deadline Day is exciting for supporters, a crucial financial date for clubs and great content for every media outlet, but what is it like for the players involved?
Deadline Day is about uncertainty and apprehension for some and confusion for others. It is a day when lives and careers can be turned upside down, in a good way or a bad way. A new challenge can emerge out of nothing with a dream move to a bigger club or reality could hit hard with a last-minute transfer that has only come about due to desperation.
So with so much at stake for players on Deadline Day, ESPN has spoken to four footballers who have lived through the experience of making a move on the final day of the transfer window.
Editor's note: Julien Laurens and Sam Marsden contributed to this report.
Moved from Arsenal to Chelsea on winter Deadline Day, 2018
«It is a really strange time for any player involved in late negotiations towards the end of a transfer window. It depends a lot [on] your situation: You could be wanted by another club but not want to move, you could want to move by ambition or for game time or for another reason, or you might be forced to move.
»For me, it was January 2018. I was 31 and I didn't want to leave Arsenal, but I had to because I was not playing enough with the World Cup coming up at the end of the season. I couldn't continue like that; it was too frustrating. I told [my former manager] Arsène Wenger at the time that I had to play, and I knew he was recruiting [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang too. I was disappointed to leave, but it was logical to give my career a new direction, so I was pushing for a transfer.
«I could have gone to Dortmund, who really wanted me and offered me a top contract. Roma and Sevilla