Former England midfielder Danny Murphy has praised the professionalism of Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud following a turbulent period at Stamford Bridge.
After falling out of favour under Blues boss Frank Lampard at the start of the season, with Tammy Abraham becoming the club's main striker, and Michy Batshuayi second choice, Giroud looked set to exit Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window in a bid to secure himself more first-team football.
But no move ever ended up coming to fruition, with Giroud remaining in West London, though his opportunities did appear to be incredibly limited.
Now, though, Giroud has forced his way back into Lampard's plans following an injury to Abraham, with the France international popping up with a number of goals and recently stating that he would like to stay beyond the end of this season.
And the way that Giroud has responded and stepped up to the plate in recent weeks has impressed Murphy.
The former Liverpool man told talkSPORT: "I want to talk about Giroud, not just because of his performance yesterday [against Everton] and against Liverpool and since he has come back into the team, but for the way he has conducted himself through that difficult period where he wasn't playing and was behind Batshuayi and Tammy.
"I think we are in a world now where we see a lot of players being petulant and doing interviews and saying thing and wanting away. I always understand when players are annoyed and are not playing - I like that, actually. But you still have to try and conduct yourself in the right way.
"And I think Giroud has behaved impeccably. He hasn't just done the right things in terms of not coming out and doing silly articles and spouting his mouth off. He has obviously trained hard and kept himself in real good nick, because physically he looks superb."
And it isn't just Giroud's professionalism that has impressed Murphy, with the regular Match of the Day pundit also heaping praise on the former Arsenal man for the way he has set an example to younger players.
"I know there is a carrot at the end of it for him for the Euros and he was trying to get away in January because he is scared of missing out," Murphy added.
"But it just shows young players, I think, a wonderful example of someone who has won the World Cup, had success throughout his career, he is obviously very wealthy and it could have been easy for him to throw his toys out of the pram and give up.
"But no, he kept himself going and got his head down. It didn't work out for him in January and that is when I really thought we might see him lose his marbles, if you like, and become a problem."
