Chelsea cool interest in Moussa Dembele after Celtic demand £40m

Chelsea have cooled their interest in striker Moussa Dembele over Celtic's demands for a £40m ($54m) transfer fee and will turn their attention elsewhere for reinforcements, according to reports.

The London Evening Standard says the Blues are unlikely to launch a bid for the 21-year-old Dembele in January and will instead try to sign Monaco winger Thomas Lemar and Red Star Belgrade forward Richmond Boakye.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is keen to strengthen his attack as he does not trust Michy Batshuayi to provide capable back-up to Alvaro Morata.

The Blues are also expected to compete with Tottenham for the signing of Everton midfielder Ross Barkley.

Brighton, West Ham, Stoke, and Everton have all been linked with moves for Dembele, who has scored four goals in 13 league appearances for Celtic this season.

Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers said he was relaxed over Dembele's future, saying the Scottish giants were confident of holding on to the former Fulham striker.

"There's always speculation," he was quoted as saying by the Evening Times. "With Moussa we are getting to that stage where there will be a different team every day.

"That's the way it is. If you look at the Premier League though, their window has changed in the summer and it will close early.

"That puts them under pressure so there are on the lookout for players, depending on how their teams are doing. There will be a sense of urgency.

"For us, we are pretty much in control. We know where we are at domestically and we know the enormous challenge we face to be competitive in the Champions League."

Conte opened the door for the likes of Michy Batshuayi and David Luiz to leave Chelsea in the January transfer window, saying he would not stand in the way of players looking to secure greater playing time elsewhere during a World Cup year.

"I prefer to have players who are very happy to stay here than to have players that are unhappy, because when you are unhappy you transfer this to the other players, to me, to my staff," Conte was reported as saying by ESPN on 2 January. "I don't like this. If we can avoid this I'd like to avoid this situation."