Olivier Giroud agrees personal terms with Inter, Frank Lampard targets Napoli star and more: Chelsea Transfer Roundup, 11th January 2020

Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda’s daily Chelsea transfer roundup.

In today’s edition, we’ve got updates on the future of Olivier Giroud, a youth prospect penning a deal with the club, and manager Frank Lampard ruling out a January move for one of his defenders.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

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Giroud moving closer to Chelsea exit

It looks like Giroud's time at Chelsea is finally coming to and end.

Olivier Giroud is inching closer to the exit door at Stamford Bridge, after reportedly agreeing personal terms with Inter Milan per the reliable Fabrizio Romano.

Olivier Giroud is getting closer to Inter. The French striker agreed personal terms yesterday (contract until June 2022) - now Inter and Chelsea are ‘close and confident’ to find total agreement on next days (around €5/6M to Chelsea). 🇫🇷 #transfers #Chelsea #Inter #CFC

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 10, 2020

All that’s left now is for Inter to meet Chelsea’s asking price for the Frenchman, which is believed to be £8.5 million.

The French striker's future has been the subject of intense speculation ever since the January transfer window opened, and it looks as though the former Arsenal striker's time at Chelsea might finally be up.

Ever since Frank Lampard has taken over the reins of the London outfit, Giroud has fallen behind Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi, with Lampard preferring a mobile and lethal finisher to lead the line.

As a result, Giroud has played only 191 minutes of Premier League football since the start of the season. When Lampard was quizzed about the striker's future in a press conference, he was refreshingly honest and said:

“Nothing’s done yet. With Ollie [Giroud] the situation is, if it’s right for everybody, and first and foremost that’s us as the club, then we’ll look at whether he can leave the club. He’s been a great professional here, who has continued to train professionally without many opportunities.

“But I still have to make a decision for the football club. Everyone’s talking about it so I’m not going to beat around the bush. I think his agent has spoken to the club, but until anything’s done he’s a Chelsea player.”

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Chelsea target Dries Mertens

Mertens is in the final six months of his contract at Napoli.

Chelsea have stepped up their interest in Napoli forward Dries Mertens and have held concrete talks with the Belgian, per French outlet Le10 Sport.

Frank Lampard is keen on adding goalscorers to his Chelsea side and views Mertens as an effective short-term fix. Mertens, now 32, is in the final six months of his contract at the San Paolo, where he’s spent seven season, scoring 118 goals in 300 appearances.

At the moment, it’s unclear as to whether Chelsea will go for him now or wait till the summer to land him on a free. The London club's pursuit of Lyon striker Moussa Dembele has been derailed by the French outfit's refusal to let go of their star striker in January, whilst other options have proven too pricey.

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Lampard rules out Christensen exit

Christensen is set to stay put at Stamford Bridge.

Frank Lampard has categorically ruled out a move for Andreas Christensen in the January window, stating that he likes the Danish centre-back and is determined to work alongside him and help him fulfil his potential at Stamford Bridge.

Christensen was an ever-present entity in the heart of Chelsea’s backline under former manager Antonio Conte but has seemingly fallen down the pecking order behind the returning Kurt Zouma, breakout star Fikayo Tomori and German international Antonio Rudiger.

Having made only eight starts in the Premier League this season, Christensen’s future was supposedly up in the air, with some believing that the Dane would make way in order to accommodate old boy Nathan Ake, whom Chelsea have been very strongly linked with.

However, Lampard quashed all of these rumours in his press conference, stating:

"Yes, I can rule it out. I like Andreas as a player. I’ve always liked him. I used to train with him and saw the talent coming through. What I want from Andreas to be is the best he can be."

"When you see him and you see the height, the athleticism and the quality on the ball, particularly in choice of pass, then I think he can be all the things I want him to be and I want to work towards that. He knows that."

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Tariq Lamptey agrees new long-term deal with Chelsea

Lamptey is considered an integral part of Chelsea's future by Frank Lampard.

Chelsea have agreed a new long-term deal with highly-rated teenager Tariq Lamptey, who had been the subject of some intense interest from a number of clubs. The 19-year-old made his debut for the Stamford Bridge outfit over the festive period when he came on against Arsenal and changed the complexion of the game with his energy and application.

Nice, managed by former Gunners star Patrick Vieira, were believed to be the leading candidates to land Lamptey’s signature before the teenager decided to pen a new deal with the London club.