Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has distanced himself from a January move to Newcastle United, according to the Northern Echo.
Toon boss Steve Bruce has expressed desires to add Premier League proven talents to his ranks at St. James’ Park this month, and is striving to sign a striker after being left underwhelmed by what Dwight Gayle has been able to offer.
Gayle, himself, is now keen to leave Tyneside and continue his career elsewhere, but will only be awarded the chance to revitalise his calling if an interested party is willing to meet our £15million valuation or pay his full £50,000-per-week wage.
Signing another striker would help clear the way for Gayle to leave this month, though it is unlikely to be Giroud after the Frenchman indicated that he is only willing to join a side that are playing in Europe or challenging for trophies.
Giroud will have a place in Didier Deschamps’ Euro 2020 squad in mind as he mulls over any potential offer, having been urged by the France boss to leave Stamford Bridge this month in order to play regular football.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has rarely favoured Giroud’s services since returning to the South West London outfit as manager last summer, with the former Blues midfielder only awarding the 2018 World Cup winner 282 minutes of action in all competitions.
Lampard has only started Giroud in two of Chelsea’s 21 Premier League games, and never in the Champions League, FA Cup or Carabao Cup so far, while even omitting the £8.1million-rated 33-year-old from the matchday squad 12 times in total.
Newcastle have also been unsuccessful in efforts to sign Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos, after seeing an inquiry turned down by the Scottish Premiership side.
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Bruce is beginning to be in a dire need to add another centre-forward to his ranks if his current options persist with their present levels of form, which has returned just two goals in all competitions.
Joelinton struck his only goal in Black and White against Tottenham Hotspur on matchday three of the Premier League season, while Yoshinori Muto’s equaliser in the Carabao Cup defeat to Leicester City on August 28 remains the latest goal scored by one of our strikers.
Andy Carroll and Gayle have both failed to find the net in 12 and eight appearances respectively.
In other Newcastle United news, the club are plotting a January move to sign a £5.4m-rated captain.