In a shock move, Chelsea have announced the extension of Olivier Giroud’s contract to 2022, meaning he won’t join Milan as a free agent.
The forward had been on the verge of accepting a two-year deal to play at San Siro with Zlatan Ibrahimovic after they qualified for the Champions League.
However, Chelsea confirmed this afternoon they have activated the option to extend his contract to June 2022.
“Olivier has been such a crucial part of so many big moments for this club, from his contribution to our FA Cup victory in 2018 to scoring 11 goals on the way to winning the Europa League in 2019,” director Marina Granovskaia told the official Chelsea website.
“He has continued to score significant goals, and we will never forget his effort against Atletico Madrid on the way to winning the Champions League this season.
“With so much to still to play for, there was only one decision we could make when we exercised the option to extend his contract back in April.”
Milan are unlikely to want to negotiate a paid transfer with the 34-year-old, so now have to look elsewhere.
This does raise a few questions, such as if Chelsea exercised the option in April, why was it only confirmed now, after weeks of intensive negotiations with Milan?