Chelsea are set to hold renewed talks with Mason Mount over a new contract, with the midfielder's current deal due to expire next year.
Mount has been linked with fellow Premier League sides Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City. The 24-year-old returned to action for Chelsea on Wednesday, coming off the bench in the 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League having been out of action with a pelvis injury.
And Chelsea are now set to reopen talks with Mount in a bid to persuade the England international to put pen to paper on a contract extension. According to ESPN, it will be the club's 'final push' to convince him to remain at Stamford Bridge.
Mount is said to be after a wage similar to the reported £250,000-a-week fellow England star Reece James earns after he signed a new six-year contract last September. However, Chelsea and Mount are yet to reach an agreement and the club will look to cash in on him in the summer if he does not re-sign.
The Blues' free spending under owner Todd Boehly, who has forked out around £600m on new signings since buying the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022, means they will need to raise money by selling players this summer to ensure they do not fall foul of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations.
Frank Lampard was asked about Mount's future in his first press conference since returning to the club as interim boss, describing him as a "huge player for Chelsea".
"I don't know enough about it to talk about it and I think it would be wrong for me to delve into anything other than the fact that Mason has always been a fantastic player for me," Lampard said. "From my days at Derby and the impact he had there to coming back to Chelsea.
"It was an absolute pleasure to watch him – among others that I coached in that period like Reece James, Tammy Abraham, [Fikayo] Tomori and others if I missed them – to have gone on to become huge players here or elsewhere, so that's great. Mason, I know, has had a few slight injury problems maybe so that's important for me to speak to him and find out where he's at, but I know what I get from Mason.
"In those terms I just want to see him perform on the pitch and of course, we have a good relationship so we'll talk a lot. I think that he's a huge player for Chelsea and has been in his time here so I look forward to talking to him more."
