Let go for under £1m by Chelsea, ‘excellent’ player now scores winner to put his new side top of the league

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It’s not unusual for strikers to struggle after they’ve parted ways with Chelsea.

Stamford Bridge has a long and rather inconsistent history with hosting attackers, ones that tend to suffer once their contract concludes.

Just take Diego Costa for example.

Despite winning the Premier League twice and finishing as the club’s top scorer in three successive seasons, the Spaniard decided he wanted to return to Atletico Madrid in 2018.

Back on La Liga soil, he failed to reproduce the form of yesteryears and faded into the darkness.

More misery for Chelsea expats

Costa only recently found a footballing home at Atletico Mineiro, where he has admittedly since claimed two trophies.

Fernando Torres, another former Spanish international, also fell off the face of the earth in light of leaving Chelsea.

Granted, he was already tumbling as a Blue, but the drop from grace was felt hard after he signed for AC Milan on loan in 2014.

Then there’s Gonzalo Higuain; remember him?

A brief loan spell under Maurizio Sarri is arguably the best it’s been for the Argentine in the past few campaigns.

Even the great Didier Drogba needed to re-join Chelsea to relight the flame inside his belly.

However, there have been two, more recent examples that not every centre-forward’s career post-South West London is doomed to fail.

Oli’s at the wheel

Whilst Tammy Abraham’s performances for Roma continue to catch the eye, his ex-teammate currently cutting about in the same league captured the headlines yesterday.

Olivier Giroud provided AC Milan’s match-winner against Napoli last night that sent the San Siro side top of Serie A once again.

Had this sentence been uttered 12 months ago, many would’ve scoffed and turned the other way.

Thomas Tuchel was only a few matches into his reign as Chelsea manager, but it had already become clear that Giroud wouldn’t be at the forefront of the team’s future.

Whilst Tuchel spoke highly of the France international, calling him an ‘excellent finisher’, the writing was on the wall for the seasoned pro.

He joined Milan last summer for £855,000 (Sky), with many fearing the end was up for the then 34-year-old.

Now 35, Giroud is loving life in Italy.

Along with the massive goal on Sunday, he has scored 10 times across all competitions, including a brace in the Milan derby.

Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner might be wondering what could be if they exited Chelsea as well…

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