Italian football agent Vincenzo Morabita has revealed that Inter had been close to signing current AC Milan striker Olivier Giroud from Chelsea in the January transfer window of 2020.

Speaking to the Twitch channel of Italian news outlet Calciomercato.it, via FCInter1908, the agent explained that there had been an agreement between the Nerazzurri and the Frenchman, but they prioritized a move for Christian Eriksen and failed to agree a deal with Chelsea.

Giroud had reported as a target for then-Inter coach Antonio Conte virtually throughout his tenure in charge of Inter.

The former Juventus and current Tottenham Hotspur coach had in fact been the man to bring Giroud to Chelsea in the first place, from Arsenal in 2018, when he was in charge of the Blues.

Conte has never made any secret of his preference to play with a certain profile of striker leading the line, and Giroud is the type of player who fits the bill for what the coach is looking for.

As such, there was little surprise that the French World Cup winner emerged as a target for Conte when he was Inter coach, while according to Morabita, negotiations even progressed quite a ways to bring him to the Nerazzurri.

However, Inter were also pursuing Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen at the time, and it was the Dane who ended up arriving in that transfer window.

Meanwhile, Giroud ended up staying at Chelsea for another for another season and a half, whilst he joined Inter’s city rivals AC Milan in the summer of 2021 which is where he remains.

“There was an agreement with the Nerazzurri,” Morabita said of Giroud during the January window in 2020, “but they delayed getting a deal done, and they decided to sign Eriksen, Conte remained there, and now the player is at Milan.”