Chelsea are reportedly setting their sights on two targets as they could look to bring in a marquee signing if both Pedro and Willian leave next summer.
The Blues stalwarts are both set to see their current contracts expire at the end of the season, and so Frank Lampard would be losing two experienced options to play in the wide positions up front.
Time will tell whether or not the club agree on new deals with the pair between now and the summer, although they will perhaps have to move sooner rather than later to begin talks as the duo can speak to other clubs from January onwards.
However, it’s suggested by The Telegraph, that in the event that both Pedro and Willian move on, with the latter said to be involved in a ‘bizarre’ contract standoff, then they would move for a high-profile signing to play up top on the flanks.
Two specific names are mentioned in the report, with Wilfried Zaha and Jadon Sancho said to be of interest to Chelsea and so either could be seen as a key solution to add to the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic to give Lampard more quality in that department.
It certainly won’t be cheap to prise either of them away from their current clubs though, with the Sun noting that Zaha was linked with a £70m return to Man Utd earlier this month, while the Metro note that Sancho could fetch around £100m for Borussia Dortmund with United and Liverpool paired with an interest too.
In turn, Chelsea will have to dig deep into their pockets to afford those price-tags, while they will await the outcome of their appeal against their transfer ban in the January transfer window to see if they can act any sooner.