Chelsea's £34m striker bid rejected - Batshuayi moving out on loan?

Reports have suggested in the last 24 hours that Chelsea have had a £34m bid for Celtic striker Moussa Dembele rejected and asked to pay £40m. Is this the end this season for Michy Batshuayi?

Anyone at the game on Saturday or anyone who has witnessed Michy Batshuayi's body language of late will know that he cuts a frustrated figure at Chelsea. OK, he scored a penalty to make it 4-0 against Brentford but it doesn't change anything, he wants to play first team football and I expect a loan arrangement to be concluded with West Ham before the close of tonight's transfer window IF Chelsea are successful in their bid to sign Dembele.

It's clear that the "Batman" needs to be playing games on a regular basis after being called up to the Belgian squad and involved in Euro 2016 last summer. Having moved to Stamford Bridge, despite a promising beginning, Batshuayi's progress has shuddered to a halt and he finds himself on the bench most weeks now. A loan move away seems to be the best result for everyone at the moment and it will be interesting to see if he is named on the bench against Liverpool tonight. If not, expect a move across London to be concluded on a temporary basis.

So to Moussa Dembele and what a prospect this guy looks to be. Having signed for Fulham from PSG at the age of sixteen, he broke into the first team squad just a year later and in the three years he was there he scored fifteen goals in just fifty-six appearances.

Celtic signed Dembele for just £500,000 last summer on a four-year contract but having impressed on a bigger stage by scoring nine goals in just twenty-one appearances, he has caught the eye of Antonio Conte and Chelsea with reports stating that a bid of £34m has already been rejected with Celtic looking for a fee of around £40m to prize him away from Glasgow.

So what of Dembele? He is an undoubted talent in my view and a good signing despite the extortionate fee. He's only twenty and will only improve his game even further still. Whether or not he is prepared to come to Chelsea and settle for a place on the bench at this stage is something he would have to consider but, if Chelsea have registered their interest (and they do have spending money after the sales of Oscar, Mikel and Bamford) then you would imagine it would be hard to turn down the idea of moving back down to London.

Take a look at the video below and see what Dembele has to offer at this early stage of his career. Is he a better option that Batshuayi?