Thomas Lemar stance on completing Chelsea transfer revealed with £50m deal possible

Thomas Lemar is open to moving to Chelsea this month with Atletico Madrid willing to let the France international leave. The winger, 24, has failed to impress under Diego Simeone since heading to La Liga in 2018. Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal have been tipped to move for the former Monaco ace before the transfer window shuts.

And according to the Evening Standard, Lemar is open to heading to Stamford Bridge in January.

Chelsea could lose Pedro this month, while Willian’s future in west London is also up in the air.

The Standard add that Chelsea will have to beat Tottenham to Lemar, with Jose Mourinho eyeing a move for the Frenchman.

However, the Blues will not have to worry about Arsenal, with the Gunners deciding to end their interest in Lemar.

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The 22-year-old centre-back has emerged as Chelsea’s top defensive target this month.

Chelsea have been watching Diop, who has three and a half years left on his West Ham contract, for some time, with Lampard keen to add defensive reinforcements to his youthful team, and a bid is now imminent.

In terms of a new striker, Lyon’s Moussa Dembele is a target for the Blues.

A lot has been made of Chelsea’s interest in the former Celtic man, with Blues hero Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink urging his olde side to go all out and sign Dembele.

He told the Daily Mail: “Chelsea need to make new signings because you have to keep the rhythm going and just to get some kind of new blood coming through the door.

“It is always good when you make a signing. It gives everybody new energy, you know?

“Obviously Tammy Abraham is doing really well but he is the only one really who is doing really well. (Michy) Batshuayi is not making a difference. Giroud, I think, he does not really fit in with their plans.

“They need to get a striker in. Moussa Dembele would be a magnificent signing for Chelsea.

“I know Moussa quite well. I faced him when I was QPR manager, he played ever so well and killed my defence.

“He has developed himself extremely well. He went to Celtic and played at a big club where the atmosphere and the pressure is there of winning. You have to win every match.

“Having already tasted that and gone through that pressure, and if Chelsea buy him, he is familiar with that. When you are at Chelsea, you have to be able to handle the pressure of winning things and he has shown at Celtic he can do that.

“More importantly, he is a killer. He is a goalscorer. He lives for goals. He scores goals in different ways, with his head, with his feet, left and right. He is quick, he is strong, he can still improve, he is still very young.

“Frank will improve him with Jody Morris, in his combination play, that can be better and improved. But what you can’t teach a player is being somewhere at the right time, and he has that a lot.

“Tammy has that as well, but at a big club you have to have a couple of strikers who are really good. You need competition.”

source: express.co.uk