Former Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has urged Frank Lampard to keep hold of Olivier Giroud in January.
The Frenchman scored all four of his side's goals against Sevilla on Wednesday, before equalising from close range during the eventual 3-1 victory over Leeds United in his first Premier League start of the season three days later.
It was reported last month that the 34-year-old is open to listening to offers from other clubs in January, with his playing time this season having mostly been limited to European action.
Hasselbaink believes that the club will struggle to win the league title without Giroud, and told Premier League Productions that Lampard needs to be 'selfish' and ensure that the striker stays until the end of the season.
"I don’t think they can afford to let Giroud go," Hasselbaink said. "Even if he’s not number one. Coming off the bench and making something different.
"I know that he is going to want to leave but I think Frank has to be very selfish there and say no.
"Maybe he can call [Didier] Deschamps and have that conversation with Deschamps saying, 'Okay, what does he need to do to be in your team? How much does he need to play?' and have that conversation with Giroud, 'Okay, you’re going to play this amount of matches for sure so you can go to the European Championship'.
"I don’t know but maybe Frank has to be a little bit creative to just keep him because I think he’s important for the team. His team-mates love him. They love him. So to keep that together is also important.
"In the beginning he hardly played but then Chelsea became a little bit in trouble with the forward players. He started playing and he saved them, I think, to get that fourth place because he was crucial.
"He was scoring important goals, that’s why he got a little extension and then this year it’s a little bit the same.
"Abraham started scoring goals and he has come from the bench. But at the moment, at the right time, he’s making the difference and I don’t think that Chelsea can afford to let him go."
Giroud has scored 35 goals in 99 appearances for the Blues since joining from Arsenal in January 2018.
He could be in line to play his 100th game for the club on Tuesday in Chelsea's final Champions League group stage match against Krasnodar.
