Olivier Giroud will seek to leave Chelsea in the summer if he is
not offered a guarantee of greater playing time, with the World Cup winner one
of a number of players whose futures remain uncertain.
The French striker,
who hopes to add to his nine-goal Europa League tally in the quarter-final
second leg at home against Slavia Prague on Thursday night, signed an 18-month
contract when moving from Arsenal for £18 million in January 2018.
That expires this summer and Chelsea have the option to trigger
a one-year extension. Giroud, who has made only seven Premier League starts
this term, has yet to hear from the director Marina Granovskaia as to whether
that will be taken up.
Asked whether he
would be at Stamford Bridge next season, Giroud said: “I have no clue about
that now. I have to meet Marina. I’m happy to be here – I may be 32 and have
won the World Cup but I don’t want to retire – but I’m not satisfied with
second choice. I’m not happy to play the second role.
“When you are a
competitor, when you’ve been through difficulties all through your career, you
need to keep that frustration inside you and transform it into positive energy
on the pitch. I’m not happy to play the second role. That’s why I said, next
year, I will need to have a more important role to play in the team.”
Giroud is one of
the players effectively in limbo while Chelsea wait to discover whether Fifa’s
two-window transfer ban will come into effect in the summer. He suggested he
had been contacted by clubs abroad keen to secure him on a free if Chelsea
decide not to take up their option.
“It is in their
court,” Giroud said. “They must talk to me before the end of the season. The
thing is, we are still waiting to find out whether the club will have the
opportunity to buy players or not, so maybe it’s a bit confusing now. But with
what I’ve achieved here, there is no reason they won’t give me one more year.
But I need to be happy, also.”
Maurizio Sarri will
be without Antonio Rüdiger against Slavia, although the Germany defender is
making good progress after sustaining a knee injury against Liverpool on
Sunday, and Marcos Alonso, who scored the only goal in the first leg, also
missed training.
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