Inter Milan are closing in on a deal for Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud and hope he will undergo his medical this weekend.
Giroud, 33, has been absent from Chelsea’s matchday squads in the Premier League since December, while he last started a top-flight game for them in August.
The World Cup winner, whose contract is up in the summer, is thought to have already agreed terms with the Italian side.
A move to Inter would see Giroud reunited with former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, who signed him for the Blues from Arsenal in January 2018.
With Tammy Abraham leading the line at Chelsea and the club keen to sign another striker this month to provide him with competition, manager Frank Lampard does not believe it would be a major gamble to sell Giroud.
Speaking earlier this month, Lampard said: “We have some adaptable players who could take up different roles so that would have to come into my thinking at that point.
“I have to make those decisions as I go along. I also have to think about the make-up of the squad, the spirit of the squad and I also have a human level where I look at people: how they are, how they train and how the squad could be affected in lots of different ways.
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“Oli has been great and I respect him for that and that slightly comes into my thinking as well. The club will always come first.”
Inter are looking to drive Chelsea down from their asking price of £8.5million, considering he would become a free agent in the summer.