Maurizio Sarri expects Chelsea to take up a one-year option on Olivier Giroud’s contract, having been encouraged that the France striker is keen to remain at Stamford Bridge.
Giroud, an £18m signing from Arsenal last season, has struggled for game-time in the Premier League under the Italian, despite proving prolific in the Europa League. No one can match his nine goals in that competition, though his start in midweek against Brighton – in which he scored his second top flight goal of the campaign – was his first in the Premier League this calendar year.
The World Cup winner, now his country’s third-highest goalscorer after netting for the 35th time in 89 caps against Iceland last month, has managed 788 minutes in 24 matches and despite seeing off the challenge of Álvaro Morata in January – the Spaniard moved to Atletico Madrid on loan for 18 months – still found himself usurped in the pecking order by Gonzalo Higuaín’s arrival from Juventus. The 32-year-old’s own 18-month deal expires in the summer but the club retain an option to extend it through to the summer of 2020.
When asked if he would like Giroud to stay at the club next year, Sarri said: “Yes, of course. I know the club have an option for another season, so I think he will remain.”
The player himself suggested late last year that he would “prefer to be at a big club rather than playing every week in a less prestigious team”. He is expected to be on the bench at West Ham on Monday but should start the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Slavia Prague on Thursday.
Sarri continues to have only fleeting contact with Roman Abramovich, whose commitment to the club remains unswerving despite confirmation the owner has stopped paying up front for his £1m-a-year corporate box at Stamford Bridge. Abramovich is understood not to have attended a Chelsea match since May 2018 after he was refused a UK investor visa.
“He has some problems now, but he is involved with the club, with the team,” said Sarri. “He is the owner, and so he is able to influence the technical staff, the club, the players, everything.”
The Italian confirmed that Abramovich tends to speak more with Gianfranco Zola, the assistant first-team coach, “who speaks better English”.
