Paris Saint-Germain list Olivier Giroud as potential substitute to Edinson Cavani — report

According to French newspaper L’Equipe (via AS), Paris Saint-Germain have added Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud as a potential substitute to Edinson Cavani, who is still pushing for an exit from the French club.

Entering the final semester of his contract at PSG, Cavani was linked with several clubs this season — including Chelsea. However it seems that Atlético Madrid, the Spanish club which carries Cavani’s father preference, will be the one to get him from the Parisian team if he does leave Parc des Princes this winter.

While they have been more than comfortable with former Inter Milan centre-forward Mauro Icardi as their main no.9, they will look for a new name to fill in Cavani’s slot. The two options that have emerged, as per L’Equipe’s report, are Napoli’s Fernando Llorente and Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud.

The former appears to be ahead of the latter in PSG’s preference, but Giroud might be the easiest one to get since his contract ends in June this year — whereas Llorente’s lasts until 2021. Either way, Giroud’s exit could also depend on Chelsea getting a new striker as his replacement. And said replacement could be Napoli’s Dries Mertens.

What an entangled mess!