The twists and turns involving Juve’s hunt for a new striker continues. A host of names had been mentioned in the recent weeks – including Fernando Llorente, Graziano Pellè, Fabio Quagliarella and Arkadiusz Milik – but Sassuolo’s Gianluca Scamacca (currently on loan at Genoa) has recently emerged as the favorite to make his landing in Turin. Nonetheless, Juventus have not gave up on signing another of their transfer targets, and the man in question is Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud.
According to Tuttosport via Tutto Mercato Webb, the Old Lady’s sporting director Fabio Paratici is still working behind the scenes to ensure the signature of the French striker whose contract expires by the end of the current campaign.
The report adds that the former Arsenal man is well appreciated by the Bianconeri manager Andrea Pirlo, who previously admitted that the striker would be useful for his team.
However, Giroud is said to be happy to remain at Chelsea for the rest of the season if given enough playing time, which could postpone his possible move to Juventus until the summer.
This season, the 34-year-old has scored 9 goals in 16 matches in all competitions, which is an impressive tally considering that most of his appearances have came from the bench.
Our View on the Juventus – Giroud Links
The Frenchman had famously won the most recent World Cup with his nation, and was regular starter in Didier Deschamps’ line-up despite failing to get a single shot on target throughout the whole tournament.
However, the tactical importance of Giroud within the French squad lies within his ability to bring down the ball and create spaces for the likes of Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann, thus, his presence at Juventus would possibly help in bringing out the best of Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa among others.
Whilst Gianluca Scamacca is definitely one for the future, it is unlikely that the young Italian would be capable of playing a similar tactical role at this early stage of his career.