Rumour: Chelsea lodge official £27 million offer for Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas

Arsenal hero Cesc Fabregas on his way to Chelsea?

According to the Express, Chelsea lodged a £27 million bid for Barcelona playmaker Cesc Fabregas last night.

Chelsea are reportedly willing to offer the Spaniard a £200,000-a-week contract and are hopeful of concluding the deal before the World Cup commences.

Jose Mourinho said: “We have some interest. I have interest in analysing the situation. It looks like he’s really interested in leaving Barcelona, and is very, very interested in coming back to England.

“This is clear. There is a process where he wants to leave, he wants to come to England because it’s the country where he wants to be, where he prefers to play. We are monitoring the situation.”

Arsenal opted not to trigger a clause in their former player’s contract that allows them first refusal, opening the door for their London rival to open negotiations with Barcelona.

Chelsea’s pursuance of Fabregas comes off the back of news that Diego Costa passed his medical ahead of a £32 million transfer from Ateltico Madrid.

Continuing their raid on the La Liga champions, left-back Filipe Luis and midfielder Tiago are said to flying into London this weekend to finalise moves to the Premier League.

Elsewhere, Chelsea are drawing up a new £200,000-a-week contract for Eden Hazard in an attempt to dissuade the Belgian from seeking a move to Paris Saint-Germain, with the Ligue 1 giants publicly expressing their interest in recent weeks.

The ex-Lille winger has three years remaining on his current £170,000-a-week contract and received details of the new proposed five-year deal before he left for international duty.

Additionally, Jose Mourinho expects Frank Lampard to return to Stamford Bridge at some point in the future.

“Everybody wants it, Mr Abramovich – the No.1, the most important person – wants very much Frank to be back.”