Australia star Jason Cummings has revealed Olivier Giroud bizarrely pretended he couldn't speak English to avoid swapping shirts at the World Cup.
France faced the Socceroos in their opening group game of the tournament, with Les Bleus running out comfortable winners despite Craig Goodwin's early goal. Giroud scored twice in the win, with Cummings coming on as a late sub.
With France the reigning world champions at the time, any of their shirts would have been a major coup for an opposition player. Unfortunately for Cummings though, he found that they are not always willing to swap following a game.
The Central Coast Mariners striker has revealed that he was rebuffed first by Kylian Mbappe and then by Giroud. And the AC Milan striker employed a cheeky method to turn down Cummings' request.
"After the France game, I actually tried to get Mbappe – forget Giroud, I went for the top boy Mbappe – and he told me to meet him in the changing rooms," he told Channel 10 show The Project.
"So I went to the changing room and the kit man was there and I gave him my top and 10 minutes later he came out with my jersey and says: 'Nah, absolutely not, (Mbappe) doesn't want to swap'.
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"So when I was walking back to my changing room and I've seen Giroud and I'm walking, as handsome as ever, and I asked him, 'Giroud, please man, can I get your shirt, man? I'm a big fan, can I get your shirt'.
"And he just walked past me, pretended he never spoke English! And he's been in the Premier League for 10 years! He just walked right past me!"
Cummings later expanded on what had happened at the Al Janoub Stadium as he revealed that he had managed to secure the shirt of Barcelona defender Jules Kounde.
“I asked Mbappe and he said he would ‘I’ll see you in the changing room’. So I was buzzing, waiting in the changing rooms for about ten minutes. I gave my top to the France kit man," he told Instagram.
"I am waiting outside and he comes back out with my top, the Socceroos shirt. I thought ‘wait a minute, that's not Mbappe’s shirt’. He basically just looked at me ‘nah, don’t want to swap kits’.
“I was walking back to the changing room, walked past Giroud. Asked Giroud as well, ‘Giroud, big man, can I get your shirt, please mate?’ He just walked past me, pretended he didn’t speak English.
"He's been in the Premier League for 10 years! Just walked past me. I did get Kounde’s, at Barcelona, and he was a great bloke.”
