Here are the Chelsea evening headlines for Wednesday August 26.
Minto urges Lampard to sign Rice
Scott Minto has urged Frank Lampard to sign Declan Rice from West Ham for Chelsea - hinting that the versatile midfielder could be the club's next John Terry.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Frank puts him in as a centre-back, because that's what he was initially," said Minto, who played for both clubs during his career.
"And Chelsea haven't really had a leader since John Terry. He's someone, I wouldn't want to say he could be the next John Terry, but I would say he could be a massive piece in Chelsea's jigsaw."
But Minto acknowledged to TribalFootball that West Ham would want to keep their star if at all possible.
"He's the future of the club and it would be a massive statement if they could keep him," he said.
Lawyer offers advice on Messi signing
Any club who wants to sign Lionel Messi needs to take a proper look at his Barcelona contract.
That's according to top sports lawyer Stephen Taylor Heath, head of sports law at JMW Solicitors, who issued a warning on the clause that Messi thinks should allow him to leave the Camp Nou for free.
He says that the unusual circumstances during the season shutdown may create a difference in opinion over when the clause expired - and if it's still valid, an interested club may find themselves having to pay £700million to buy him out of his contract.
"The mooted release clause for Messi being entitled to leave without a transfer fee provided he gave notice within a certain number of days of the original date for the Champions League final in May (i.e within a number of days of the end of the season) is an interesting legal issue," said Heath.
"When the football season was suspended there was much talk about whether player contracts that were due to expire at the end of the season would be deemed to be extended until after the season had finished.
“The generally accepted position was that in law the player could argue his contract had expired on the calendar date stated even though when the contract was entered into the mutual assumption was that the season would have ended by then."
Read more of his legal discussion here.
Thiago Silva medical imminent
Thiago Silva will have a medical at Chelsea on Thursday in preparation for concluding his move to West London.
Reports suggest that Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel wanted to keep the 35-year-old, but the club officials wanted to move him out of the club.
That has meant an understandable deterioration of his relationship with sporting director Leonardo.
