Surprising the footballing world by announcing the extension of Olivier Giroud’s contract by a year, Chelsea essentially stopped him from joining another team on a free.
The France international had been heavily linked with a move to Milan, with the Italian said to be close to an agreement, but the revelation on Friday appeared to make things a tad more complicated.
However, soon after, a statement from Giroud’s entourage suggested Chelsea would still let him leave if he wanted to, and that’s what Gazzetta dello Sport run with on Monday.
The newspaper explain that if the striker wants to join Milan, ‘he will first have to get free release’ from the Blues, hinting the Serie A side have no intention of paying a fee for him.
That being said, there is hope, as the relationship between Giroud and the Stamford Bridge side ‘seems to be one of mutual trust and esteem’, meaning the extension ‘can be read as an act of gratitude’.
That means ‘the forward could get to be ‘released’ for free’, kind of like ‘an unwritten promise that would give the player the opportunity to reach an agreement with a foreign team without the latter having to pay compensation to the English’.
Milan have offered him a two-year deal, according to Gazzetta, worth €4m a year, but their ‘marriage hasn’t been cancelled, perhaps only postponed’.
Still, ‘in order to arrive, it is necessary for the striker to obtain the termination of the contract’.
