Willian is edging closer to leaving Chelsea on a free after rejecting the club’s latest attempts to persuade him to sign a new two-year deal and has held talks over a move to Arsenal.
The winger has been unable to reach an agreement with Chelsea over fresh terms because of his demands for a three-year extension and is increasingly likely to leave after the second leg of the last-16 Champions League tie against Bayern Munich on Saturday. Although Willian is expected to delay a decision on his future until after that game, the chances of a breakthrough in negotiations with Chelsea are receding, boosting Arsenal’s hopes of signing the 31-year-old.
Chelsea are interested in West Ham’s Declan Rice and have been linked with Atlético Madrid’s José Giménez, and Lampard wants Leicester’s Ben Chilwell as his left-back. However, the manager is likely to need to offload Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen or Antonio Rüdiger before bringing in a new center-back. Fikayo Tomori, an academy graduate, is not believed to be for sale.
Lampard could also raise funds by finding a buyer for the Italy midfielder Jorginho, and he is not convinced by Marcos Alonso or Emerson Palmieri at left-back. Emerson has been targeted by Juventus and Internazionale.
Chelsea are 3-0 down against Bayern and will be without César Azpilicueta and Christian Pulisic, who suffered hamstring injuries against Arsenal. Pedro, who is joining Roma, is also unavailable after dislocating a shoulder.
source: www.guardian.com