While Olivier Giroud wishes to continue his international career until Euro 2024, Didier Deschamps will have to choose which role he entrusts to the top scorer in the history of the Blues.
Will Olivier Giroud be called by Didier Deschamps, Thursday, in the list of the France team for the meetings against the Netherlands and Ireland? The answer will come shortly after 2 p.m., but what is certain is that the AC Milan striker is a candidate, and wishes to continue the adventure in Blue.
“I still have the motivation and the determination to add my stone to the building and try to be a kind of big brother for this whole generation and the new one that is coming. I am still there, at the disposal of the coach to try to make the French proud and have as much fun as possible, Giroud told RTL in early March. Euro 2024 is in the back of my mind. We will have to continue to be in good shape, above all to be competitive to be called up. Of course, I have the ambition to go that far if I continue with the France team. »
Can Giroud be a replacement? Deschamps doubted it…
Since Giroud has not decided to retire from international football, it will therefore be up to Deschamps to choose what he does with the 36-year-old striker. With the start of the Euro 2024 qualifiers, the Blues are starting a new cycle. Does Giroud fit into the coach’s plans for the medium term? This is the question he will have to answer.
After the Euro, in 2020, Deschamps dismissed Giroud because he did not think he was capable of accepting a role as Karim Benzema’s understudy. With the setbacks of Madrid, the former Montpellier had returned to grace, and he recovered a starting status for the World Cup, at the same time as he became top scorer in the history of the France team.
And now ? You have to know if Deschamps still sees him as his n°1 option for the tip of the attack. The World Cup final showed that there was life without Giroud, replaced in the first period. In his tank, the coach of the Blues does not really have other profiles “à la Giroud”, since we are talking more about the returns of Nkunku or even Diaby in the list. But he can choose to install Kylian Mbappé at the forefront, with Randal Kolo Muani as a potential recourse. Can Giroud find a joker role? In the past, Deschamps has already expressed doubts about the ability of the native of Chambéry to accept this status…
