France's all-time leading goal-scorer Olivier Giroud has revealed that he plans to pull the curtains on his international playing career for France after the end of Euro 2024.
Giroud, 37, is the third-most capped footballer for France with 131 international appearances. He has scored the most number of goals (57) for Les Bleus and will go down in history as arguably the best striker to play for the two-time World Cup winners.
"To be honest, this will be my last competition with Les Bleus. Obviously, I'm going to miss it a lot," Giroud told L'Equipe in an interview published on Thursday (May 23).
The veteran footballer feels that there are plenty of young footballers knocking on the doors of the national team selection and therefore it is the right time to make way for them.
"We need to make way for the youngsters," he added.
Giroud confessed to experiencing "physical and mental fatigue" and wants to dedicate the final years of his playing career to representing clubs and not in the international circuit.
"I'm also feeling physical and mental fatigue," Giroud told L'Equipe. I've always said I was going to stop when my body asked me to. I think I've got two good years left. But as far as the French team is concerned, I think that'll be the end of it."
Giroud is one of the most celebrated footballers who are active at the club level. He has scored 285 goals in 716 matches of his club career. He has a burning desire to finish on a high with the French football team and therefore wants to claim the Euro Championships 2024.
"It's really the desire to go as far as possible in the competition with this generation that drives me. If I win, apart from the Premier League, which is very difficult to win, I could say I've won everything. I'm also hearing a lot about reaching the 60-goal mark for the national team. But it's not an obsession," Giroud added.
