Olivier Giroud was supposed to be a filler when he signed for Chelsea from London rivals Arsenal but the Frenchman has turned out to be one of the first names in Lampard’s teamsheets during the current Premier League season.
This season, Olivier Giroud has featured in 14 games for the Blues, scoring eight goals. And right now, the 34-year-old has been keeping young Tammy Abraham on the bench.
Lampard has clearly understood the importance of Giroud during his time at the club and during the past few months, the World Cup winner has been getting a lot more game time.
But despite all this buzz, Marcel Desailly has predicted that Olivier Giroud has no future at the Stamford Bridge.
“He is not the future of Chelsea and he can never be the main man,” Desailly told Goal.
“He can only be important at moments for the club because Lampard can be clever to study the opponents and use him in specific games against teams who don’t like facing a player with his strengths.
“I believe that Lampard has helped Giroud shine often by getting a lot out of him but he can’t be the first choice for Lampard. He has Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner to compete with, so he can’t maintain his first-choice status from the start until the end.
“It is just down to Lampard to use him at the right time, get runners around him to allow him to shine.
“He is 34 years old now so don’t ask him to be the main man but make sure that he is important when he is needed. With his age, and status as a world champion, then I think this is about how and when you use him.”
Is Olivier Giroud heading out of Chelsea?
Giroud has turned out to be a surprise hit at Chelsea but we do not see Frank Lampard offering him a new contract at the end of the ongoing season(especially since he was destined to leave this past summer had the lockdown not happened).
The likes of Werner and Abraham are undoubtedly the future and if these players do not get game time then they will not hesitate to head for greener pastures. And the Chelsea boss wouldn’t want to take this gamble for a 34-year-old.
So, Giroud will remain an important part of the Chelsea squad over the course of this season but will promptly be shown the door next summer.
