Olivier Giroud insisted after France’s 3-1 win over Italy that he’s not worried about his place in the team following the signing of Lucas Perez.

The way I see it, is the ex-Deportivo striker has been brought in as a Plan B. Not necessarily a back-up to Giroud but not a replacement either. Just someone to play against the right teams or bring on when we need to approach the game differently. Of course, he could be absolutely world class in training and overtake Giroud but when it comes down to it, I don’t think that’s why we bought him.

This seems to be the way the big guy sees it as well considering he claims that he’s not worried about his position in the starting XI.

“My club situation? I’m not worried, I came back [to training] very late from the Euros,” he said.

“It was normal to throw me in gradually. There is no problem on that side.”

Having confidence is good but hopefully Oli does realise he still needs to fight for his position. A bit of competition should do him good.

Giroud scored against for France v Italy, making that his 11th goal in 13 appearances. It also means he overtook Eric Cantona.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryMV3Gjg1ec