Once again scoring two goals for France, Olivier Giroud continues to show why Chelsea should be playing him.
Unfortunately for the striker, Frank Lampard isn’t doing so, preferring to field the likes of Timo Werner instead, perhaps due to the high fee the club paid for the German’s services in the summer.
Either way, Giroud is still a very prolific striker when called upon, and while Didier Deschamps is still happy to call him up to the national team for now, he’s openly said he’ll be more reluctant to do so next year if his protégé continues to sit on the Stamford Bridge bench.
Over in France, there’s a feeling the goalscorer’s talent is being wasted, leading to some, like Jérôme Rothen, suggesting he might be better off leaving and returning to France.
Speaking to RMC Sport, relayed by Girondins4Ever, he said: “It’s a question of staying fit. It’s not better to stay at Chelsea and not playing. Training doesn’t replace games, even crappy Ligue 1 games. Whether he plays at Marseille, Lyon or Bordeaux, even if he struggles, he’ll at least have the rhythm of competition. He needs to maintain the same level of fitness he has now.
“The best thing to keep your physical and mental fitness is to compete, whatever it is. If he makes sacrifices, he can return to Ligue 1, yes. Honestly, he’s won enough money… Beyond that, it depends on what he wants to do… It’s not a case of leaving for a club that can pay his current wages, but not being guaranteed to play… He needs to go to a club where he’s sure of featuring. For me, Ligue 1 can give him that”.
Despite scoring regularly when played after the January transfer window, Giroud has only featured three times for Chelsea in the Premier League this season, totalling a measly 33 minutes in the competition.
He’s been called upon once in the Champions League for 27 minutes, and started just the one game: a penalty loss to Tottenham in the EFL Cup in which he didn’t score.
That’s not what Deschamps, or Giroud for that matter, is looking for, and something certainly needs to change.
