Chelsea are reportedly happy to offload Ross Barkley and Michy Batshuayi to West Ham United in a bid to secure the signing of Declan Rice.
With Kai Havertz potentially joining Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner in making the switch to Stamford Bridge, it puts Chelsea in a position where they could be left with an unbalanced squad.
According to The Times, Frank Lampard wants to ease those concerns by putting together a part-exchange deal for defensive-minded Rice.
Although Barkley has featured regularly since the resumption, the Chelsea boss is seemingly prepared to show preference to Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount in that area of the pitch.
Meanwhile, having dropped down the pecking order at the West Londoners, Batshuayi has not played a single minute of football since February 29.
While Rice still has four years left on his contract, West Ham may be prepared to cash in on the academy graduate should it aid their efforts to strengthen their squad.
Darren Plant
