One out, one in: Inter plot strategy to land bit-part Chelsea star in January

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Inter will reportedly look to offload Matteo Politano in January ahead of trying to prise Olivier Giroud away from Chelsea.

It hasn’t worked out for the 26-year-old under Antonio Conte so far this season, as he’s been limited to 14 appearances across all competitions but has failed to register a single goal or assist in his minutes on the pitch.

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With the Nerazzurri looking to topple Juventus in the Serie A title battle this season coupled with their push to win trophies, Conte will perhaps need more support for Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez to ensure that they remain on course in the second half of the campaign.

In turn, Calciomercato report, via the paper edition of Corriere dello Sport, that the current joint-leaders in Italy’s top flight could try to offload Politano in order to swoop for Giroud.

The Frenchman has faced similar frustrations at Chelsea so far this season as he has been forced to play a back-up role with Tammy Abraham leading the line for Frank Lampard, and so has featured just seven times to date. He’ll perhaps want to secure a more prominent role elsewhere with that in mind, especially if his situation at Stamford Bridge isn’t going to change.

It remains to be seen if the two clubs can reach an agreement, and of course if there is any concrete interest in Politano, but the pieces could yet fall into place next month for Conte to reshuffle his attack and bring in a player he knows well from his time in west London.

Inter sit level on 42 points with Juventus at the top of the Serie A table after 17 games, and so any changes that they make to the squad in January could be decisive in terms of coming out on top for the Scudetto.

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