Chelsea will have to pay £5m to bring in talented young Derby midfielder Max Bird to the club this summer, according to a report in the Daily Mail today.
The tabloid says that Lampard has maintained an interest in Bird after managing him in the midlands last season. The now Chelsea boss gave Bird his league debut in December 2018, and despite the coach’s move back to West London a year ago, Bird’s continued his progress.
He’s been growing in importance and experience under new Derby coach Phillip Cocu, and now Chelsea are ready to swoop and buy him up to join Lampard’s young team of English stars.
Bird has been playing in a kind of defensive midfield role for the Rams in recent times, but is a versatile midfield player who can still be moulded into a finished product.
We’ve seen with Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori how much faith Lamps has in his old Derby charges – could it be true that he thinks Bird will be the next to step up?
