The Moussa Dembele Chelsea transfer saga may be about to take a significant turn as it looks like the Blues are ready to offer Olivier Giroud to Lyon as part of the deal.
Dembele has been linked with a transfer to Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and other clubs in recent times after his fine performances in Ligue 1, and it seems clear he could be an ideal addition to Frank Lampard’s squad.
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It remains to be seen if Chelsea can succeed with this swap deal offer, but Giroud makes sense as a decent replacement for Dembele at Lyon.
This potential move is being talked up in a report from the Sun, which suggests the west London giants would put together a package of £40million plus Giroud in order to make this potentially key signing up front.
Lampard will no doubt hope to get this deal done quickly, with the CFC manager finally able to make signings after the club’s transfer ban during the summer.
This has led to an over-reliance on a number of youngsters at Stamford Bridge, and a more proven player like Dembele could be crucial to take the heat off someone like Tammy Abraham up front.
The 23-year-old has scored 32 goals in 72 appearances for Lyon, and previously also shone in spells at Celtic and Fulham.
It will be interesting to see if Dembele can now make the step up for a top club like Chelsea, who have also been linked with Timo Werner and Wilfried Zaha as options to strengthen their attack this January.