Inter Milan are leading Aston Villa and Newcastle United in the race to sign Olivier Giroud from Chelsea this month with the striker believed to favour a move to Italy ahead of a Premier League relegation fight.

Giroud also has interest from France, particularly from Bordeaux, but the former Arsenal man is seriously considering linking up with ex-Chelsea manager Antonio Conte again.

Conte was in charge when Giroud joined Chelsea from Arsenal two years ago and he scored five goals, and won the FA Cup, in their six months together at Stamford Bridge.

Although Conte already has Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez at Inter, the Italian knows he will need to rotate his squad heavily over the second half of the season thanks to the busy Europa League schedule.

Giroud proved himself to be a specialist in the Europa League last season, top scoring in the competition that Chelsea won.

With only six months remaining on his contract, Chelsea can only demand a nominal fee for 33-year-old Giroud and Inter are ready to pay around £2.5 million to complete a deal.

Chelsea are not thought to be interested in signing forward Gabriel Barbosa, who Inter are looking to sell this month and is of interest to West Ham United.