Chelsea to offload N'Golo Kante to land midfield target?

Chelsea could make the surprise decision to sell N'Golo Kante this summer as they look to raise funds for the purchase of West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice.

The Blues have already spent £130m on the signings of Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Malang Sarr, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva this summer.

Their spending is expected to exceed £200m with the arrival of Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen for an initial fee of around £72m.

According to Football Insider, Frank Lampard will need to raise funds for any future purchases.

Rice has been earmarked as the next target and it is claimed that Kante could be heading for the exit door to compensate for his arrival.

Rice is currently valued at around £80m by the Hammers, but the Blues are hoping to land his services for a fee in the region of £65m in the coming weeks.

Kante endured an injury-plagued 2019/2020 season with the Blues and he was restricted to only 28 appearances across all competitions.

Despite this, the Frenchman is still highly valued and former Blues boss Antonio Conte is looking to lure him to Inter Milan in a deal worth £45m.