Olivier Giroud delivers no-nonsense response to World Cup shirt swap claims

Olivier Giroud has hit back at Jason Cummings with a brutal response after the Frenchman apparently 'pretended he couldn't speak English' to avoid swapping shirts at the World Cup.

The initial incident came following France's 4-1 win over Australia in their opening match of the tournament - a game in which Giroud scored twice. It was a terrific performance from the former Chelsea forward, and he was quizzed after the game by Cummings who asked for his shirt.

But ruthlessly, Giroud decided to walk straight past Cummings and not say a word, bluffing the ex-Shrewsbury ace that he couldn't speak English. Cummings revealed that he was rebuffed first by star-of-the-show Kylian Mbappe and then by Giroud, who has since gifted his shirt to Jackson Irvine instead.

Irvine, who has previously played for Hull City and Burton Albion, swapped jerseys with Giroud and the France forward took to social media on Thursday morning to take a cheeky swipe at Cummings. Irvine had also supposedly asked Giroud and it was the midfielder who has won the battle for the striker's shirt.

In a post on Twitter, Giroud said: "Hi @jacksonirvine_. How is my English mate?" The tweet was followed by several laughing emojis, the France national flag, a love heart, the Austrailia flag and the OK hand emoji.

Earlier this week, Cummings explained the incident and how Giroud rejected the opportunity to swap shirts. The 27-year-old, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, has played for Nottingham Forest, Hibernian and Rangers amongst other in his professional career. But Cummings was able to play for Australia through his mother, who was born in Perth.

"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 went on to admit that he did, however, manage to swap shirts with Barcelona defender Jules Kounde. He said on his Instagram that the France right-back was a "top bloke".