Declan Rice will be 'held back' at West Ham says pundit
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has reportedly made it clear to Roman Abramovich that he wants to sign Declan Rice before the transfer window closes, but the midfielder may need to force through a move. The Blues are set to take their summer spending to well over £200million with Edouard Mendy set to complete his move to Stamford Bridge this week.
Mendy will be the seventh new signing at Chelsea this summer and looks set to replace Kepa Arrizabalaga as the club's first-choice goalkeeper.
Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz have come in to bolster their attacking options while Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva improve Chelsea defensively - Malang Sarr is expected to be loaned out.
The one area left that Lampard still wants to bring someone in is another holding midfielder.
N'Golo Kante has often played the role in front of the defence, but he's been pushed further forward under Lampard.
West Ham have slapped an £80m asking price on the England international though, which is said to be "scaring" the Blues from making an offer.
Ross Barkley could potentially be offered as a makeweight to any bid Chelsea make.
But the report suggests that even if Chelsea reach West Ham's valuation, they may still be reluctant to sell having caused major uproar among their fanbase by selling Grady Diangana to West Brom.
It is claimed that Chelsea may have to rely on Rice putting in a transfer request in order to return to the club he spent most of his youth career with.
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Chelsea have already spent big this summer (Image: GETTY)
The 21-year-old though has a strong affiliation to the Hammers supporters and he may be unwilling to take that step.
Recent reports had suggested that Kante could possibly be sold to help fund a move to Rice but, speaking before the start of the season, Lampard insisted the France international is still part of his plans.
“He’s fundamental to what I’m trying to do,” Lampard said earlier this month.
“We can obviously talk about the attacking players we have but someone like N’Golo and the work he does in midfield is important.
“He looks fresh at the moment, so he’s a big deal to me. I want to keep N’Golo.”