Chelsea join pursuit of former Celtic striker Dembele

CHELSEA have entered the race for Lyon striker Moussa Dembele. Dembele is a target for Manchester United and was watched by a scout from the Old Trafford side on Saturday night as he scored at Toulouse. But the Blues are exploring a move for the former Celtic striker next summer. United view the 23-year-old as a good forward option for the January window. Yet it is understood Lyon might want to hold onto Dembele until the summer to maximise his value. He is more settled under new manager Rudi Garcia than previous boss Sylvinho and less likely to push for a move in January. And that could suit Chelsea, who are in the middle of a transfer ban that will last until the summer window. The Blues could have lost Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi by then, leaving Tammy Abraham as their only recognised senior striker. Given their fine start to the season under Frank Lampard, they are likely to need more options to try and compete in the Champions League. The Blues host Ajax tonight and Lampard has warned Chelsea he expects an even tougher encounter than they faced in Amsterdam. The Stamford Bridge side had arguably their finest result under Lampard when they beat last season’s Champions League semi-finalists 1-0 last month. Batshuayi’s late strike drew Chelsea level with the Dutch champions at the top of Group H, and another win tonight would leave them with one foot in the next round. However, Lampard said: ‘I wouldn’t like to say that until that foot is officially in the next round. ‘I said at the start that this group would be tight because all the teams could take points off each other. That has been proved to be correct. ‘We’ve had two good results and another one would be great for us with two games left, but we must understand that even though we are at home now, the quality and the danger from Ajax is as much, if not more, than the game we played away because they are such a good, technical team. ‘After losing the opening game against Valencia, which was disappointing, we have shown a great reaction from that. ‘I have to accept it’s expected of

Chelsea to go through and that is no disrespect to any other teams. I have said already how hard the group is but it is more about our own expectations. ‘That is maybe why we had that reaction. We wanted to prove ourselves, we wanted to go to Ajax and Lille and get results, and we did. But we won’t get carried away with ourselves in this group.’