:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66083934/1192804149.jpg.0.jpg)
Olivier Giroud’s time at Chelsea is coming to an end, and if the most recent reports are to be believed, he could be on his way to Inter Milan after this weekend.
On Thursday, Giroud’s representatives had reportedly reached an agreement with Inter Milan over a 2.5-year contract, but the two teams were still quite far apart in terms of a transfer fee. Inter were trying to get it done for around €4m while Chelsea were apparently holding out for closer to €10m.
We expected that the two sides would eventually meet somewhere in the middle, and according to the Italian Transfer Oracles (both of them), we didn’t have to wait too long to get there. According to Gianluca Di Marzio, the gap between the two sides has shrunk from €6m to just €1m in just 24 hours and the “white smoke” is expected early next week.
Fabrizio Romano has that final number around €5-6m, which seems reasonable enough for a 33-year-old with six months left on his contract, who is very much surplus to requirements now.
Olivier Giroud is getting closer to Inter. The French striker agreed personal terms yesterday (contract until June 2022) - now Inter and Chelsea are ‘close and confident’ to find total agreement on next days (around €5/6M to Chelsea). #transfers #Chelsea #Inter #CFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 10, 2020
Chelsea paid around £18m for Giroud two years ago, and he was instrumental in both of our trophy wins since, starting both the FA Cup final in 2018 and the Europa League final last season. In fact, his 11 goals in a single European campaign were both a Chelsea and a French national record, and he trailed only Lionel Messi in goals scored in all European competitions last season.