Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has played down rumours of an £80million move for Wilfried Zaha which would see Olivier Giroud move to Crystal Palace as part of the deal.
The west London club are ready to be active when the January window opens having been banned from making any signings in the summer – though they successfully appealed that ruling and are free to reinforce their squad this month.
Reports emerged suggesting Lampard wants to bring in a new attacker and Zaha is on Chelsea’s wishlist, with Giroud – who is out of favour at Stamford Bridge – a potential makeweight.
However, Lampard – who watched his side draw 1-1 with Brighton on New Year’s Day – has distanced himself from any such deal and does not want to discuss individual targets.
‘I wouldn’t talk about Zaha and the idea of that deal is something I’ve never even considered,’ said Lampard when asked directly about trading Giroud to Palace as part of a deal.
Probed on whether Zaha is a player he likes, Lampard continued: ‘No, as I say, I won’t talk about Zaha because he’s not a player of ours.
‘If we have to do business we’ll do it in the way that we see fit to try and make us better.
‘And that’s behind closed doors as opposed to just announcing who we might want to bring in.’
After a brilliant victory over Arsenal at the Emirates just a few days ago, Chelsea gave a less than impressive display against Brighton, conceding late on, and Lampard admits the side have to be more clinical.
Lampard continued: ‘You have to deal with it in games, it’s part of the process. You can accuse for a lack of fight and urgency but today was a lack of quality on the ball. We just decided to not keep doing the simple things, not taking opportunities to score.’
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