West Ham look on course to sign Benfica midfielder Gedson Fernandes after submitting a vastly improved offer.
Sky say both the Hammers and Chelsea are looking to take the Portugal international on an 18-month loan with an obligation to buy.
However, it is understood that Chelsea offered considerably more than West Ham, who are said to have made an initial offer to pay £33m for Fernandes after his loan spell – around £22m less than Chelsea, who are reportedly offering a deal that will see them pay £55m to buy him if he plays at least 50% of matches during this loan spell.
But West Ham have massively upped their bid and reports in Portugal now suggest Benfica are minded to accept it.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are reportedly refusing to pay Crystal Palace’s asking price for Wilfried Zaha.
Palace want around £80m for the winger, who is keen to play Champions League football.
The Daily Express say Chelsea are interested in Zaha but are not willing to meet the Eagles’ valuation.
And the Daily Mirror say Zaha’s new agent Pini Zahavi has approached Tottenham to try to tempt them into a deal this month – but they too do not want to pay the asking price.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has plenty of attacking options with the likes of Willian, Pedro, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic.
He is still believed to be keen on Zaha, who has been linked with several top clubs during recent transfer windows.
However, Lampard refused to discuss Zaha when asked at a recent press conference if Chelsea were pursuing a deal to sign the Ivory Coast international.
Lampard said: “I wouldn’t talk about Zaha and the idea of that deal is something I’ve never even considered. 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 to make us better and that’s done behind closed doors as opposed to just announcing who we might want to bring in.”