Chelsea are reportedly reopening talks with Ligue 1 side, Olympique Lyon, for their star striker Moussa Dembele. According to The Sun, Frank Lampard is desperate to sign a forward in this window, and Chelsea will have to spend over £45million to get the deal done. Dembele was being monitored by the London side for quite a while before they shifted their focus to other targets.
But with a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ surrounding the other transfers, Chelsea are resuming talks with Lyon. With his main striker Tammy Abraham injured and back-up option Michy Batshuayi out of form, Frank Lampard wants to bring in a striker at any cost. He has reportedly made his intentions very clear to both Marino Granovskaia, the director the of the club, and to Petr Cech, the technical adviser.
Moussa Dembele is familiar with the city as he got trained at the Fulham academy. But his major break came when he was playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership. Many big clubs were interested to sign him, but Lyon came out on top with their bid of £19.7 million.
Moussa Dembele: Is he the man Lampard is looking for?
Frank Lampard has been highlighting the importance of adding to their attack for a considerable while now. Though Tammy Abraham has done a fairly decent job, he is still very young and inexperienced. Hence, consistency is always an issue with Abraham. To add to Lampard’s worries, Abraham injured his ankle in the game against Arsenal.
Hence, Lampard is rightly desperate for a striker. They have held talks with another Ligue 1 club, Paris Saint-Germain, about Edinson Cavani. Though the Uruguayan striker might be available for a cheaper price, he is at the dusk of his career now. Things didn’t go well when Chelsea brought in veteran striker Gonzalo Higuain on loan last season.
On the other hand, Dembele is currently enjoying the form of his life. He has been a great success at Lyon. In his debut season, the youngster netted 20 goals in just 46 matches. He is all set to break his own record, as he has already found the back of the net 16 times this season. Lampard is looking for a striker whom he can trust to score goals week in week out.
Moussa Dembele has been very consistent not only with Lyon but also for the French U21 side. Many expect him to be in Didier Deschamps’ team very soon which will be an achievement given they are the current world champions. Hence, it will be wise if Chelsea invest heavily on a player at the prime of his life with impeccable consistency, rather than going for a cheap but aged alternative.