Chelsea likely to let Olivier Giroud leave in January
The striker admits to being concerned over his game time, but would Chelsea replace him?
As January approaches once again, there is a real feeling of deja vu surrounding the Olivier Giroud situation.
Cast your minds back to this time last season and you would be seeing the same reports as you see now - Giroud set to leave Chelsea in January.
I was surprised at the time that he didn’t move on, I could never really see his situation improving a lot at the club. But it actually did, and Giroud became a big help in getting Chelsea to fourth spot in the league.
The summer arrived and Giroud was expected to leave again, especially with the arrival of Timo Werner. But he stayed, Lampard wanted him and knew how important he could be.
But here we are again, and this time it looks increasingly likely that Giroud will finally depart from Chelsea this January.
"Worried' is a big word, but it is concerning” said Giroud speaking to Telefoot over the weekend.
"It's true that I felt I still had a role to play in this team. I thought I could still help, but my playing time has gone down significantly, so that will need to change or I'll have to make a decision."
The Athletic report that it now looks very likely that Chelsea WILL allow Giroud to leave in January, as long as Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner remain fit.
But will they replace him?
Well, David Ornstein who wrote the story believes that it is not definite that they will replace Giroud.
Chelsea could become light up top and Giroud gives them a unique option that the other two do not give. So for me, I believe there is a chance they could get a new striker in, perhaps one at the latter end of his career who is OK coming in as a third choice impact option.
Or they may well decide to go with various ‘false 9’ options such as Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz if needs must.