Transfer Centre

Olivier Giroud hints at Chelsea exit

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 27 January 2019

Chelsea forward Olivier Giroud suggests that he is considering a return to Ligue 1 following the arrival of Gonzalo Higuain at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea forward Olivier Giroud has suggested that he is considering a return to Ligue 1.

Giroud joined Chelsea from Arsenal in January 2018 and scored five times in 18 appearances for the Blues in the second half of the 2017-18 campaign.

The 32-year-old has only managed one Premier League goal this season, however, and the recent arrival of Gonzalo Higuain from Juventus will push Giroud further down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.

"I will never make people unanimously satisfied with me," Giroud told Canal in an interview shortly before Higuain's move was confirmed.

"There is a little part of regret and frustration. The public expects a goalscorer to score goals. I'm the fourth best goalscorer of French football and nobody can take that away from me. The coach makes [Eden] Hazard play nine which is detrimental to strikers. But he is the best player I've ever played with.

"If the club decides to get another striker, like Higuain, it will certainly darken my future at Chelsea. I've never said no to a return to France. Lyon and Marseille are two great clubs. My priority is to stay in the Premier League though."

Giroud was a prolific goalscorer with Tours and Montpellier before moving to English football with Arsenal, where he scored over 100 times before switching to Chelsea.