Another Chelsea player has headed out on loan with Ross Barkley moving to Aston Villa for the rest of the 2020/21 campaign.
The 26-year-old has consistently struggled for game time at the Blues and has rarely been part of the first team starting XI.
The former Everton man will now get the chance to play regularly for Villa, who were impressive in their 3-0 win over Fulham at the weekend.
Barkley is not to be the last Chelsea player heading out before the window closes next Monday, with several other potential exits.
One of the high profile ones could be Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and football.london understands that Barkley's season-long exit will not change plans to potentially loan out the England international.
The 24-year-old was once again not in Chelsea's squad for the Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He has featured in only one game this season, being the campaign opener at Brighton, and is set to find game time hard to come by.
"I’m very open with Ruben. We’ve had a couple of conversations in the last week," Lampard said. "He’s fit as a fiddle so he can play week in, week out. He needs to play. He’s done a lot of work now.
"He would have been playing earlier if it wasn’t for lockdown and restart. There’s a possibility that Ruben may go out to play games because that would be great for him."
Loftus-Cheek suffered a horrendous Achilles' tendon rupture in May 2019, and since then he has only played a handful of games for the first team.
Lampard is keen for the midfielder to get more game time so that he can come back for the 2021/22 campaign in good form and with vital minutes under his belt.
Barkley's future at Chelsea is not quite as secure, however, and there could be the chance for Chelsea to sell him next summer in order to raise funds.
With more space in the midfield, Lampard is still keen on bringing in Declan Rice, however West Ham are insisting they won't listen to offers for their star player.
The Hammers are interested in taking Loftus-Cheek on loan, which Chelsea could potentially use in a deal for Rice.
