Socceroos star Jason Cummings has cleared up the shirt swap drama with Olivier Giroud, claiming it was all a big “misunderstanding” and that the two are “actually best mates now”.
Speaking after Australia’s 4-1 loss in their World Cup opener to France, Cummings revealed how he had initially tried to swap jerseys with Kylian Mbappe.
But when that plan failed to eventuate, he instead turned his attention on Giroud.
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“So when I was walking back to my change room, I’ve seen Giroud,” he said on ‘The Project’.
“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! (laughing). He just walked right past me.”
In response, Giroud later shared images on social media of Jackson Irvine’s jersey with the caption, “Hi @jacksonirvine_ how is my English mate?” alongside laughing emojis.
Appearing on SEN Radio’s ‘Saturday Morning Mowers Club’, Cummings put any lingering speculation over the shirt swap to bed, explaining it started out as “just a bit of banter”.
“I just think it’s funny. It was just a bit of banter. I didn’t actually expect it to get to Giroud and for him to respond,” Cummings said.
“It got twisted a wee bit, saying that Giroud told me he doesn’t speak English. That wasn’t the case, he probably didn’t understand me because I speak Scottish. I sometimes speak gibberish so he just didn’t understand me or something, I’m not too sure.”
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Cummings went on to describe it as a “misunderstanding”, adding that it has all been “resolved” and that he had actually since received a message from Giroud himself.
“He actually messaged me a DM on Instagram and it turns out he’s a great bloke,” Cummings said.
“He’s offered to send me an AC Milan jersey and basically said sorry for the misunderstanding and stuff. That’s nice and shows that he’s actually a good bloke.
“I said to him that I’m going to send him back a Mariners jersey in return. It turns out that we’re actually best mates now so, you know, I got the last laugh.”