This article is part of Football FanCast's Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba's haircuts to League Two relegation battles...

Olivier Giroud is currently not enjoying his best days over at Stamford Bridge.

The 33-year-old veteran striker has fallen behind both Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi in the pecking order and has, for that reason, only managed to tally 282 minutes in the 2019/20 campaign.

Of course, for a man who was once a big presence in the Blues' squad - seeing how his efforts with 11 goals and five assists were key in last season's march for the Europa League crown - this is a huge fall from grace.

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Frank Lampard has seemingly rejuvenated his squad and the veterans like the Frenchman himself are now on the fringes while the keys to the Chelsea engine have been given to the younger crop of players.

And precisely for that reason, Giroud's links with a January exit are not really surprising.

Just recently, L'Equipe (via Get Football News France) reported that the player has made strides towards joining Inter Milan and Antonio Conte in Italy.

The former Chelsea gaffer has Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku at his disposal but could use a back-up striker with Giroud's pedigree and experience.

And while that may still be the primary reason for his interest, it's also difficult not to see this as a possible contingency plan in case he loses one of his key players and needs to replace him with a proven, albeit a short-term solution.

Martinez has been linked with an exit as both Barcelona and Manchester City seem poised to make their moves for the Argentine, as per Sky Sports (via Marca).

The Nerazzurri have reportedly also slapped a (€111m) £92.8m price tag on their man but both the Catalans and the Citizens are clubs whose size means that is still within their grasp.

Seeing how they mostly play with two strikers up front, Conte would need someone to partner Lukaku if the Argentine was to indeed leave in the not so distant future.

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The only other option is the 17-year-old Sebastiano Esposito but given he is more one for the future, it's difficult to see Conte giving him such a huge responsibility already.

Giroud being 33 means that he would likely serve as someone to fill in the gap immediately but his experience and goal-scoring know-how is definitely a huge plus for the Nerazzurri.

After all, the Frenchman has scored a total of 159 goals as a centre-forward in his career, according to the games Transfermarkt have in their database.

If there's one thing he could bring to the Italians, then that's plenty of goals as well as the ability to hold up the ball and bring others into the game.

For Lampard, it would hardly be a big loss since he doesn't seem to count on the player anymore.

Elsewhere, Milan should be extremely wary of hijacking one of Everton's huge transfer targets...