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Any hopes that Chelsea had of signing striker Moussa Dembélé in the January transfer window have been quashed, with the French club insisting he is not for sale.
Dembélé has been interesting Chelsea for some time and there were suggestions that the West London club were prepared to offer cash, plus Olivier Giroud as a makeweight to try and entice him to West London.
However, now Lyon have stated publicly “OL would like to reaffirm its wish, as in the summer of 2019, to keep Moussa Dembélé.”
Chelsea may now be forced to consider the other names on their transfer list which is thought to include a number of wingers and forwards, including Jadon Sancho, Wilfried Zaha, and Leon Bailey.
The former Celtic forward has scored 30 goals since his transfer to France from Celtic 18 months ago in a £20 million deal, and Blues manager Frank Lampard has seen certain similarities in how he plays to that of his old team mate Didier Drogba. Both Giroud and Michy Batshuayi could depart Stamford Bridge this month.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.