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Taison receives news that he may not be joining Chelsea. Armando Franca/AP/Press Association Images
Rumour Mill

The Departures Lounge: Chelsea could lose out to City on Taison deal

We round up the best of this afternoon’s transfer tid-bits.

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH WILL have to move fast if he wants to add one more member to the growing Brazilian contingent at Chelsea, it seems.

The Russian billionaire has reportedly agreed to stump up the €13m for Metalist Kharkiv midfielder Taison only to be told by the Ukrainian side that the price tag has increased.

While Taison has agreed personal terms, the Pensioners could lose out on the 24-year-old with Manchester City waiting in the wings for the transfer to collapse.

Going?

As reported last night, The Daily Telegraph this morning ran a story about the possibility of Manchester United giving Frank Lampard a new home once he is turfed out by Chelsea at the end of the season.

At 34, Lampard is no spring chicken but would slightly bring down the age profile if he replaced either Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs, who could both call it a day after the current campaign.

Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender, a target of Arsenal and Manchester United, is believed to have a buy-out clause of €15m while French striker Loic Remy will NOT be joining Harry Redknapp at QPR, despite the fact that Shaun Wright-Phillips has been offered as a makeweight.

Going?

Now for some news on Ireland’s former No1 and its current one. Martin O’Neill has revealed that he rejected an enquiry about Keiren Westwood from an unnamed club (who aren’t Hull City, where former Black Cats manager Steve Bruce is now in charge).

O’Neill has no back-up for Simon Mignolet so won’t be letting the former Coventry stopper leave this month.

Shay Given, meanwhile, has admitted that he would have departed Aston Villa by now had it not been for their good cup runs. The 36-year-old has lost his place to Brad Guzan under Paul Lambert and although he is unhappy with the current situation, says be involved in Villa’s success in the Capital One Cup (where they play Bradford in the semi-final tonight) and the FA Cup has been a rare positive.

I’m not used to this position but these cup games have been important,” he told Sky Sports.

“I can’t say I’m quite happy to sit on the bench because I’m not. I want to play football, but it’s the manager’s choice and I’ve just got to try and impress him every time I get a chance.”

After making contact with Athletic Bilbao over a permanent deal for Fernando Llorente, Juventus are keen to further bolter their strikeforce by bringing in Didier Drogba from Chinese outfit Shanghai Shenhua.

GONE!

Dyer could soon be arriving at a club near you… or not. Credit: Jon Buckle/EMPICS Sport

Finally, spare a thought for perennial ‘sick note’ Kieron Dyer. The injury-prone midfielder, who has made just four starts for QPR since arriving in July 2011, scored his first senior goal in almost six years in the 1-1 FA Cup third round draw with West Brom over the weekend but has this morning been released by the club.

Frankly, we find it incredible that he has managed to earn a living in the Premier League to the age of 34.

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