Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Olivier Giroud may yet end up staying at Chelsea.
The 33 year-old French international and World Cup winner is one of the hundreds of players who future is up in the air because of the Covid-19 pandemic. His current deal at Stamford Bridge expires on 30th June, which means that he is currently free to sign a pre-contract deal with a foreign club.
He had been widely linked with a move away, after falling down the pecking order under Frank Lampard, having to play second fiddle to Tammy Abraham for most of the season. However, with Abraham injured, Giroud came back into the team, and was playing well and scoring goals when the season was halted by the spread of the virus.
Giroud came close to leaving Stamford Bridge in January, with Tottenham, and especially Inter Milan, chasing his signature, but Chelsea decided not to sell him because they could not identify a suitable replacement.
However, he has now admitted that he would be happy to sign a new deal with the West London club if it were offered to him.
FIFA are currently deciding what to do about those players whose contracts and registrations expire at the end of June, in the event that league seasons continue past that date.
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.