Chelsea news LIVE: Roman Abramovich to back Frank Lampard as £42m transfer talks begin

Chelsea news LIVE updates: All the latest news and transfer gossip from Stamford Bridge

Thursday, February 27

• Chelsea are ready to pursue Houssem Aouar in the summer

• The Blues will reportedly lodge a £42million offer

• Chelsea are plotting a swap deal involving Kepa

• Lampard must worry about Granovskaia more than Abramovich

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• Alternative Premier League table which sees Liverpool down in fourth

Houssem Aouar transfer

Chelsea are ready to pursue Houssem Aouar in the summer and will reportedly lodge a £42million (€50m) for the Lyon midfielder.

The Blues are on the hunt for reinforcements and are expected to be busy in the upcoming transfer window as Frank Lampard puts his stamp on the squad.

Chelsea have Aouar in their sights and are set to battle Juventus for the 21-year-old, who is an integral part of the Lyon first-team.

The Blues have already made contact with the Ligue 1 outfit over a potential move, according to a report from Tuttomercatoweb.

Kepa swap interest

Chelsea are plotting a sensational swap deal with Atletico Madrid to send Kepa Arrizabalaga to the Wanda Metropolitano in exchange for Jan Oblak, according to the Sun.

Arrizabalaga has been tipped to leave the club during the summer after a reported falling-out with Frank Lampard.

The 25-year-old was dropped for the last three Premier League fixtures, and didn’t feature against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

And with the uncertainty building over his future, a report has emerged in the Sun claiming that Chelsea will look to swap Arrizabalaga for Oblak.

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• Man Utd target £127m club-record transfer, Chelsea open £42m talks

Frank Lampard axe claim

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard must worry about Marina Granovskaia more than owner Roman Abramovich after a transfer disagreement between the duo last month, says expert Duncan Castles.

Lampard and Granovskaia are said to have been at loggerheads in January over potential new signings. Lampard wanted to bring new players into the club but Chelsea ended the window having failed to spend a penny.

“Roman Abramovich usually gets twitchy fingers when things start to go wrong, he’s not a man to tolerate bad results for very long,” Castles said on the Transfer Window podcast. “I think that the individual that Lampard has to be most worried about is Marina Granovskaia.

“There was essentially a conflict between Granovskaia and Lampard over the January transfer market when Chelsea had a lot of money available to them to spend.

“I think Lampard basically tested his strength against Granovskaia in that market and at best it came out as a goalless draw.

“If Granovskaia continues to have doubts about Lampard and he continues to have this lack of success in home matches and more importantly should that translate into missing out on the Champions League, then the chances of Abramovich being encouraged to twitch those fingers are certainly greater.”

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