Chelsea striker, Olivier Giroud has revealed that he did everything he could last summer to exit the club when he discovered that he had problems making the starting XI regularly for the team. He explained that he needed more playing time for him to be considered as part of the France team for Euro 2020 and he was not getting that opportunity in Chelsea so he made plans to exit the club to seek greener pastures in another club.
The Frenchman revealed this while he was speaking with Telefoot in an interview. According to him, he had contacts with Italian giant club, Lazio and another notable English club, Tottenham Hotspur, though Inter Milan was his top choice. However, all his moves and plans were foiled by the club so he had no choice than to stay and fight for his place in the club. He said. “I did everything I could to leave Chelsea, but they did not want to let me go unless they could get a replacement. Inter Milan was my priority with contacts as well as Lazio and Tottenham. But the circumstances brought Chelsea to block me.”
“This was not my choice. Aside from that, either you sulk or you come back fighting to win your place. The coach promised me more playing time, he kept his word. I simply took my chance. I knew that it was not prudent to go on strike; or to try and mess with the atmosphere in the dressing room. Because that is not me, and because I knew that there was a large chance that I would stay at Chelsea.”
The former Arsenal front man revealed that Lyon showed a great interest in him but he was hell bent on playing for Inter Milan. “Yes, president Jean-Michel Aulas called me. I got him on the phone. He expressed his interest to me and I simply told him that I was flattered by Lyon’s interest but that my priority was focused on Inter.”
Giroud is however confident that his recent performance in Chelsea will earn him a place in France’s squad for the Euro 2020. In his words, “The Euros remains a big objective for me, well, if it actually takes place… Seriously, it is always a source of enormous disappointed not to be selected and I hope that my recent performances with Chelsea will convince the coach to call me up.”
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