Olivier Giroud undergoing medical at Chelsea ahead of £18million move from Arsenal
French striker to go through medical while final terms are thrashed out before sealing switch from Arsenal as Michy Batshuayi prepares to complete loan move to Borussia Dortmund
OLIVIER GIROUD is undergoing a medical ahead of an £18million move to Chelsea.
The Arsenal striker was given permission to link up with the Blues this morning after the Gunners finally agreed a fee to sell him to their London rivals.
SunSport understands Giroud has travelled to go through his health checks while the finer points of his contract are still to be ironed out.
And with Michy Batshuayi already in Germany putting the finishing touches to his loan move to Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea hope to confirm the signing later today.
Giroud played as a substitute for Arsenal in their 3-1 defeat to Swansea last night as Arsene Wenger refused to leave his forward out of his plans while a deal was not done.
But afterwards the 31-year-old made a point of waving goodbye to the travelling supporters at the end of the game.
Arsenal had been waiting for Dortmund to give the all-clear to Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to complete his £56million move to the Emirates.
They would only do that once they had a replacement in place, and that came when Batshuayi travelled to Germany this morning after agreeing a loan move.
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Chelsea only sanctioned that switch when they were confident they had a striker coming in - and Giroud is the man now that Arsenal have agreed to lower their original asking price of £30m.
It is understood Giroud is close to agreeing a two-and-a-half year deal to move to Stamford Bridge, a transfer that boosts his chances of being involved in the World Cup with France this summer.
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Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is busy preparing his squad for tonight's Premier League clash with Bournemouth.
The plan is to get the formalities done this afternoon before the striker meets up with his new team-mates before the game tonight.
And Chelsea are hopeful of parading the Frenchman on the pitch in front of their fans at Stamford Bridge either before kick-off or at half-time.
