Chelsea have a bright chance of signing Ajax goalkeeper, Andre Onana, reports the Kicker.

Frank Lampard side switched their attention to the Cameroonian international following Atletico Madrid’s statement that they do not intend to sell Jan Oblak this season.

The Blues desperately wants a replacement for the first-choice goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has come under criticism for conceding many goals and failing to organize and command his backline.

Bayern Leverkusen enquired about Onana initially but the German club’s first bid was rejected by the Ajax due to failure to meet the player’s price value.

Leverkusen have pulled out of the race leaving Chelsea to negotiate with the Dutch side for the services of Onana.

The Blues have qualified for next season’s champions league and Lampard seeks to prepare his side to challenge for honors having secured Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner.

The Chelsea manager earlier revealed that Champions the importance of Champions League football to his squad saying, ‘the Champions League is massively important for Chelsea, not just in terms of the prestige and what it means, but if you are on the world stage like Chelsea have been, you want to compete at the highest level, and you want to attract players to the highest level,’ said the boss.

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‘It obviously generates money to the club. You understand why there is such intense scrutiny on who finishes in the top four. Now it becomes an accomplishment in itself. We want to move further than that so we look upwards in the Premier League, but trying to get in the Champions League has to be a huge aim for Chelsea, even with the way this year has gone.

It would be a big achievement for the players,’ added Lampard of finishing in the top four. 

‘We had a squad that included players coming back from loan this year, making Premier League debuts and experiencing the marathon that is a Premier League season, and we lost probably the best player in the league.

‘Teams around us invested. We were fighting our own battles, the players fight those battles on the pitch, and while I never thought it would be plain sailing it’s in our hands in the last two games to get there. If we get there - and it’s going to be tough because of the games ahead of us - it should be something we are happy with, and then it’s thinking about how we move on and bridge the gap upwards.’