Chelsea €10m not enough to get Mertens, as Giroud waits (im)patiently — reports

Inter Milan have re-joined the race to sign Olivier Giroud before the transfer window slams shut, but he apparently prefers Lazio. Not that it matters, because Chelsea probably won’t allow him to leave until we can sign someone. And that’s not looking likely at the moment. (Hopefully Giroud doesn’t do something drastic like skip training, like some of the more salacious rumors have claimed.)

We tried €10m (first bid? second bid?) for Dries Mertens (per Di Marzio), but Napoli knocked it back. They themselves want to extend the player, who wants more money but doesn’t want to leave either.

Vincenzo Morabito, supposedly one of the intermediaries working to get Giroud to Lazio, gave a rather informative update on the situation in Italy.

“[Lazio have] been making great strides lately [...] Certainly Giroud is considering this destination: the fact that a world champion also sought by Tottenham, Manchester United, Newcastle and Inter is reflecting on Lazio is a positive sign.

“Right now the situation is completely blocked because it depends on Chelsea. Will it be Mertens? No, according to Chelsea, he is definitely gone because the will of the player is to stay in Naples. But the right name could jump out at any moment, with the club then letting go of Giroud. We still have a lot of time.”

-Vincenzo Morabito, source: Sky Italia

That last part about Mertens definitely doesn’t sound optimistic, but in the last few hours of the transfer window, anything can happen.