Olivier Giroud has appeared to hint that his future may lie away from Chelsea, amid suggestions that he could join AC Milan. That's despite having just had his contract extended until June 2022.
The Blues took up the option of an extra year on the Frenchman’s deal, but recent quotes from Giroud have cast some doubt over whether he will actually still be a Chelsea player come next season.
Rumours linking the 34-year-old with a move to the San Siro have been circulating for a little while now, and Giroud recently spoke of his admiration for the Rossoneri (via Goal): “It’s fair to say that I liked [former Milan stars] Marco van Basten and Andriy Shevchenko.
“Milan are a big club and one of the great teams in Europe.”
However, we emphasised that his focus for now is firmly on France’s Euro 2020 campaign, which gets underway with a tasty-looking clash against Germany next Tuesday. "I will not talk about my future at the club [at this moment]," he said.
But how likely is the Premier League’s most immaculately groomed target man will head to pastures new this summer? After all, he still has plenty to offer – and could well add to his medal haul if he sticks around.
Giroud isn't going to be at the top of the pecking order for the centre-forward spot in Thomas Tuchel’s system – indeed, he hadn’t been even under Frank Lampard in 2020/21 – but he has proved himself to be a dependable back-up and affords the German a different option in attack.
Chelsea are bound to be in the market for a new number nine this summer – their top-scoring striker last season was Timo Werner with just six goals – and, while that wouldn’t necessarily have any bearing on Giroud in a playing sense, it feels like the missing piece that could propel the Champions League winners to a sixth Premier League title.
Giroud, who joined Arsenal from Montpellier back in 2012 before crossing the River Thames in 2018, is yet to experience league success in England; could the prospect of that be enough to make him stick around in South London just a little bit longer?
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