Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah still regards Olivier Giroud as a “top player” nearly a year on since Chelsea sold him to AC Milan.
Giroud, who scored 39 goals in his Chelsea career, was sold by the Blues last summer.
The 35-year-old striker joined up with Italian giants AC Milan, who currently sit top of the Serie A table in the thick of a league title race.
Despite his age, he’s still a vital player in the Milan XI with 11 goals in 33 games across all competitions this season. It’s worth pointing out the £86,000-a-week centre-forward has scored some massively important goals along the way, too.
Liverpool superstar Salah has been discussing some of the elite stars in world football that are still producing into their mid-30s and beyond. Ex-Blues striker Giroud is one of those has mentioned in the discussion.
“Now you can see that with players – all of them extend their careers. You can see the top, top players always after 32, 33, you can see a lot of them – Lewandowski, Benzema, Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan, a lot of players; also [Edin] Dzeko in Italy, [Olivier] Giroud. All of them perform really well after 30, so I’m not concerned about that,” Salah said.
Mr Underrated
In fairness, the greatness of Giroud will only be recognised once he retires.
The veteran striker is three goals short of matching Thierry Henry’s record of being France’s all-time leading goalscorer.
He’s been successful in French and English football at club level, plus he’s trying to get his Milan side over the line for a league title this year.
His career at Stamford Bridge perhaps came to a natural end, but it wasn’t because he’s not good enough.
As for older players shining in the twilight of their careers, Chelsea have the master example with their brilliant 37-year-old centre-back Thiago Silva.
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