Olivier Giroud on Verge of Inter Move With Chelsea Close to Agreement

An agreement is almost in place to see Olivier Giroud leave Chelsea this January and link up with former boss Antonio Conte at Inter.

The Italian tactician signed Giroud from Arsenal on the final day of the winter window in 2018 on an 18-month deal, with the Frenchman going on to score 19 goals across 70 appearances in west London.

However, this season the striker has been limited to just seven outings across all competitions, with Frank Lampard favouring the likes of Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi as his number nine. Due to this, the 33-year-old has been heavily linked with a Premier League departure, with Inter pipping the competition to the post to secure his signature.

Giroud had agreed personal terms with the Serie A side last week, but there have since been further developments ahead of an imminent Stamford Bridge departure.

RMC Sport’s Mohamed Bouhafsi claims that an agreement between both clubs has not yet fully been concluded, as the Frenchman’s agent flies to Milan on Thursday to fine tune the details. That said, all further negotiations are not expected to suffer any hiccups, and the move is all-but assured. Such claims are also backed up by other various other sources, who add that all the medicals will be in place for the French international to complete his deal by the weekend.

Olivier #Giroud devrait bien rejoindre l’Inter Milan ce week end. Pas encore d’accord Chelsea/Inter mais les positions se sont rapprochés pour un transfert de 6,5M€ bonus compris. L’agent du joueur va à Milan demain pour finaliser l’opération. 2 ans et demi de contrat. #RMCsport

— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) January 15, 2020

The nitty gritty of the move is set to be a two-and-a-half year contract, with Inter paying a fee of €5m plus add ons, which will take the overall sum to around €6.5m.

Crystal Palace as well as a number of Ligue 1 clubs were all previously credited with an interest in Giroud, who has scored over 120 goals in the Premier League during spells with the Blues and Arsenal.

Despite a lack of game time under Lampard, and indeed Maurizio Sarri before him, Giroud is still Didier Deschamps’ first-choice striker with the French national team. However, with the European Championships coming up this month, Giroud was unwilling to risk losing his place in the side and the move will benefit all parties involved.

Chelsea themselves are also on the lookout for a striker this window, with pursuits of Moussa Dembele and Timo Werner mentioned heavily, although both those deals have hit snags in recent weeks.

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