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Olivier Giroud has been urged to leave Chelsea in January by his international manager, Didier Deschamps.
The 33-year old striker, who is currently sidelined with an ankle injury, has started only one Premier League game for the West London side this season, with Tammy Abraham firmly established as the preferred centre forward, and Michy Batshuayi his most regular back-up.
That is a problem for Giroud, who wants to feature for France in Euros 2020, and for his national coach, who will find it hard to pick him if he is not playing regular first-team football. Deschamps said “”I don’t know what offers he has, where it might be possible for him to get more playing time.
“We saw each other not so long ago. As with every player, he’s the one who decides. But keep in mind that it’s the daily life of players with their clubs that leads to France selection.
“He knows it. It’s up to him to decide the best solution for himself.”
World Cup winner Giroud, who has scored four times for Les Bleus this season, has been linked with a loan move to the end of the season to Inter Milan, where he could provide back-up to Romelu Lukaku. However, it is thought that Inter are more interested in another Chelsea player, Marcos Alonso.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.