Marcel Desailly has claimed Olivier Giroud will never be as important for Chelsea as he is for his country.

The France international was considering leaving the Stamford Bridge club in January before his heroic forue goals against Sevilla in the Champions League win, and has since been handed a starting point in the Blues attack.

But former Chelsea captain Desailly told Goal: “He is not the future of Chelsea and he can never be the main man.

“He can only be important at moments for the club because Lampard can be clever to study the opponents and use him in specific games against teams who don’t like facing a player with his strengths.

“I believe that Lampard has helped Giroud shine often by getting a lot out of him but he can’t be the first choice for Lampard. He has Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner to compete with, so he can’t maintain his first-choice status from the start until the end.

“It is just down to Lampard to use him at the right time, get runners around him to allow him to shine.

“He is 34 years old now so don’t ask him to be the main man but make sure that he is important when he is needed. With his age, and status as a world champion, then I think this is about how and when you use him.”