Kai Havertz was not even born when Olivier Giroud signed for Grenoble, his first professional club.
The Frenchman was about to embark on a remarkable career, upsetting the bookmakers by winning the league with Montpellier as the club's star man before joining Arsenal in the Premier League.
He has won the World Cup, the Europa League and the FA Cup three times.
But he still has it, says Havertz, as the 21-year-old raved about his teammate in an interview with Sky Sports.
As he opened up about his time at Chelsea so far, the youngster was asked who has impressed him the most at Cobham during his early months.
And Havertz did not hesitate to nominate Giroud for the award with the 34-year-old currently in fine form under Frank Lampard.
The striker has scored six goals in his last five games, including four against Sevilla in the Champions League.
"The one who really impressed me is Olivier Giroud," admitted Havertz as he revealed his new-found admiration for a teammate 13 years his senior.
"I wouldn't have expected that before. He's an amazing player. Playing with him as a striker is just fun."
Giroud is just seven international goals away from matching Arsenal legend Thierry Henry at the top of France's all-time scoring charts.
In 105 games for his nation, the forward has hit the net 44 times making him his countries second all-time leading goalscorer.
"It is not for nothing that he holds records in the French national team," Havertz continued. "He has a lot of games and a lot of goals under his belt.
"He's also a great guy as a person. Basically, it's great fun in the group because the quality is very high everywhere," he said.
