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Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda's daily Chelsea transfer news roundup.
In today's edition, we've got an update on Olivier Giroud's future at the club, there's news on Frank Lampard's primary transfer targets for the summer and it looks like Tariq Lamptey's on his way to Lille.
Spurs to make a shock swoop for Giroud?
With his move to Inter Milan reportedly in limbo, Chelsea’s Oliver Giroud is keen on joining Tottenham Hotspur, with the North London club reportedly making an inquiry for the Frenchman, per the reliable Fabrizio Romano.
However, the Blues are keen on green-lighting this deal, as it would leave them severely short on numbers in the striking department. Frank Lampard’s side have tried to recruit a striker all window but have failed in their attempts so far. A move for Lyon’s Moussa Dembele and Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani has failed to materialise.
Spurs will be without the services of Harry Kane for the foreseeable future and have been in the market for a striker themselves. They’ve been linked with AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek over the past few days but the Italian outfit do not want to loan the Polish striker – they’d be interested in offloading him on a permanent deal, something Spurs aren’t looking for.
As a result, they’ve turned their attention towards Giroud, who is looking for a way out of Stamford Bridge as he’s not in Lampard’s plans. It’ll be interesting to see which forward both these club’s end up with come the end of the window, if at all they do.
Lampard identifies Ziyech and Chilwell as primary summer targets
According to ESPN, Chelsea have identified Ajax’s Hakim Ziyech and Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell as their prime targets for the summer transfer window.
The report also stated that the Blues were keen on bringing Napoli striker Dries Mertens to Stamford Bridge this month but his disinterest in the move proved to be a deterrent eventually.
Chilwell has been long-admired at Chelsea and is their number one target for the left-back spot. The Blues will have to fight off stiff competition from both Manchester clubs though, who are also interested in securing the services of the Leicester City star.
Ziyech is being targeted with a view to providing more variety to Lampard’s side in attack, and it is understood that although Manchester United are also interested in the 26-year-old, Chelsea have edged forward in the race to sign the Moroccan.
Lamptey accepts Lille contract offer
Chelsea’s highly-rated right-back Tariq Lamptey has accepted a pre-contract offer from Lille, and the French outfit are looking to get the compensation fee for the teenager sorted with the Blues in an attempt to take him to France this month itself.
This comes as a bit of a surprise considering the reports that came out a few weeks back from The Athletic which stated that Lamptey had agreed a contract with Chelsea.
Lamptey is spoken of very highly in Chelsea’s youth circles and manager Frank Lampard had last month expressed a desire to tie down the 19-year-old to a new contract.
However, considering how stiff the competition is at right-back at Stamford Bridge, this move makes sense from Lamptey’s perspective, who’s been bold enough to get out of his comfort zone and do what’s best for the progression of his career by moving abroad.
