Ornstein: Giroud is Tottenham’s last striker option in January

One by one, the striker options available to Tottenham Hotspur in this January transfer options have dried up and/or withered away. Now, it’s looking less and less likely that Spurs will come out of this window with a natural understudy to Harry Kane.

There is, however, still one option left, but nobody’s really sure if it’s viable. According to David Ornstein of the Athletic, Tottenham is still showing interest in taking Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud on a short term deal before the window slams shut, but even the Ornacle doesn’t seem too optimistic that Spurs can do a deal with the Blues.

So it sounds like Chelsea are actually open to selling Giroud to Spurs, which would be unusual in and of itself, but only if they can get a replacement for him in beforehand. That’s the real sticking point. Giroud is said to be very open to coming to Spurs, and would even prefer that to any other hypothetical move (such as Newcastle, which is also interested in the Frenchman).

Giroud is 33 and obviously isn’t the future, but he’d be a hell of a short term signing and could be a fantastic understudy to Harry Kane who remains out injured until April. And any deal would be a short term one — I’ve been reading something along the lines of 18 months.

The prospects of a deal aren’t finished by a long shot and a lot can happen in the last two days of the window. This is one that could go down right to the wire.