Olivier Giroud has opened up on his time at Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel in an interview with The Athletic with the Frenchman admitting it was hard to leave the Blues in the summer to sign for AC Milan.
The World Cup-winning forward linked up with the Serie A giants ahead of the start of the 2021-22 campaign after falling down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge towards the backend of the previous season.
Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as the Chelsea manager brought around a lack of first-team opportunities for Giroud which the former Arsenal man admitted was tough for him to endure and ultimately led to his exit from the Stamford Bridge camp.
“I didn’t understand why I couldn’t play a bigger part in our success.”
“Even more because I was our top scorer in the Champions League (with six goals, including four in one match against Sevilla in December), so I was a bit angry. But I didn’t show it because the most important thing is the team, the cohesion.
“It was very, very frustrating. I was so happy to win the competition, but it was time for me to leave the club after three and a half amazing years. I don’t have any resentment regarding the manager, especially because he has been successful and we did well.”
Giroud’s departure was followed up by Chelsea offloading another forward player in Tammy Abraham which opened the doors for Tuchel to bring in his long-term target Romelu Lukaku.
The 28-year-old Lukaku’s return to England’s top flight with his old club was subject to much fanfare with Chelsea splashing the cash on signing him from Inter Milan.
