Olivier Giroud is very close to leaving Chelsea for AC Milan, according to numerous sources. The agreement between the two clubs is all but done, and the 36-year-old striker is supposed to travel to Italy to have his medical soon and sign for the Rossoneri in a deal worth up to €2 million.
Giroud joined Chelsea from Arsenal in January 2018 for around €20m. Since then, he’s continuously been used as a backup option upfront. Even when the club were banned from signing new players in 2019 and had just sold Eden Hazard, Giroud was mostly behind young Tammy Abraham in the pecking order. His game-time has been reduced even further following the arrivals of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz last year. In 2020-21, he started only eight Premier League games and made nine appearances off the bench, spending another 18 matches as an unused substitute.
He played a bigger role in the Champions League though, scoring six times in eight games as the Blues marched towards the prestigious trophy.
There could be more business between Chelsea and Milan on the way, regardless of the situation with Giroud. Sky Sports report that the Serie A giants are interested in winger Hakim Ziyech, as well as midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko who already spent a season on loan at San Siro and has never made a big impact at Stamford Bridge.
Bakayoko’s contract with Chelsea is already in its final 12 months, so there shouldn’t be too much difficulty in prizing him away while the club can still get a fee for his services.
Ziyech, however, only arrived to London last summer and has four years left on his deal.
