Chelsea to move for the final piece of the jigsaw but €80m price tag is a major problem

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Opinions are split over how well Frank Lampard actually did with Chelsea last season, but it was clear that the squad wasn’t strong enough to compete with the elite teams in England or in Europe.

They finished miles behind Liverpool in the league and the Champions League thumping from Bayern Munich illustrated the gap, so it will be interesting to see how much they will improve after a big summer in the transfer market.

They’ve added goals with Timo Werner, craft with Hakim Ziyech, a potential superstar in Kai Havertz while Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell should strengthen a defence that was a big problem last season.

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It now looks like Edouard Mendy is going to arrive to take over from Kepa between the sticks, so the final piece of the jigsaw is finding a holding midfielder to shield the back four, and it looks like they will make a real push to sign Declan Rice:

It is strange to see a potential transfer fee between two English sides being quoted in Euros, so it’s very possible that the price tag is actually £80m rather than the €80m in that report.

Rice has been impressive in the last couple of seasons and there’s little to be excited about when it comes to West Ham just now, so you have to think that he will be desperate to make this move if he gets the chance.

West Ham’s stance suggests he may need to kick off and try to force an exit which is never good to see, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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