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Five days into the winter transfer window, Chelsea’s most-likely-departing-player, Olivier Giroud’s future is still as muddled as it was a few weeks back. While the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Olympique Lyonnais, Bordeaux, Atletico Madrid, OGC Nice and even Rangers (!) have all been rumored to hold an interest in the French centre-forward, nothing concrete has developed from those links. Now, there appears to be interest from the domestic front as Newcastle United and Aston Villa have seemingly joined the long queue.
Newcastle interested in Olivier Giroud loan move to add extra fire power in attack but Chelsea will not let anyone leave until they have brought in a replacement | Exclusive by @LukeEdwardsTelehttps://t.co/NlaS19yRZD
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) January 5, 2020
Although Newcastle United are 13th on the Premier League table, they have managed to score only 20 goals so far this season, which is the joint third-lowest in the league. One of the reasons for their poor form in front of goal has been their £40m recording signing Joelinton not being able to find the back of the net. Joelinton was never a prolific striker by any means even at Hoffenheim, with his main strength being his ability to link up with his team-mates, but 1 league goal this season is still a miserable output even by his standards. NUFC’s other strikers haven’t fared much better, with their top league scorer being midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, and not one other player being able to score more than 2 goals this season.
#avfc like Giroud and will try to arrange a deal to bring the striker to the club. In the meantime, Kodjia will lead the line - but does he need to do more? Story here: https://t.co/SAiPgoe4o9
— Gregg Evans (@greggevans40) January 5, 2020
Aston Villa on the other hand have lost their starting striker, Wesley Moraes, to a long-term knee injury and are looking for someone to fill the void. They needed reinforcements anyways this month judging by their 17th position on the PL table, but now the situation has become a little more urgent and desperate.
Both the clubs are also interested in a move for Giroud’s team-mate, Michy Batshuayi (who doesn’t want to leave Chelsea this window) as an alternative option if a move for the former doesn’t pan out. However, Chelsea haven’t been able to secure a replacement who can deputize for Tammy Abraham despite making a bid for Moussa Dembele. Till that situation gets sorted, no striker is allowed to leave Chelsea it seems.
Stay tuned!