Here is your Chelsea morning digest for Wednesday, February 10.
Chelsea Champions League tie to be moved
Chelsea 's Champions League fixture with Atletico Madrid later this month will almost certainly have to be played outside Spain.
The Blues were set to take on Atletico at the Wanda Metropolitano in the Spanish capital on February 23 in the first of two legs in their Champions League Round of 16 tie.
But the fixture will now have to be played outside of Spain after Spanish authorities confirmed the extension of the ban on UK flights earlier this evening due to coronavirus variants.
Spain have now extended the ban for a third time, meaning flights from the UK will not be allowed unless they are carrying Spanish nationals or residents.
The new extension is set to last up until March 2 and the decision on whether to extend the ban again will be taken in the days leading up to that date.
The latest ban was expected to run until February 16 before today's extension which has been made due to the coronavirus variants found in the UK, with Brazil and South Africa also included in the ban.
As has been the case in a number of Champions League and Europa League fixtures, Chelsea's fixture with Atletico Madrid will now have to be moved to another country with Bucharest and Warsaw reportedly being considered.
Lampard's nice Silva touch
Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva has revealed what Frank Lampard did upon agreeing to sign for the Blues.
"As soon as I said yes, he sent me a picture of us both shaking hands as national team captains in 2013," Silva told FourFourTwo .
"It was a nice surprise. He understood exactly what I needed at this stage of my career, probably because he had made a similar move when he was also 36, from Chelsea to Manchester City.
"I didn’t think twice when I heard Chelsea were interested in me – not only because of their history, but also because Willian and David Luiz invariably spoke highly of them.
"Marina [Granovskaia, club director] called me after I’d agreed, then passed me on to Frank. It was through a translator, because I still don’t speak English and his accent was even tougher for me!"
Alaba setback
Chelsea are said to have hit a road block in a potential move for Bayern Munich defender David Alaba.
The 28-year-old is out of contract at the end of the current season, meaning he will be available on a free transfer to interested clubs.
The Blues are said to be one of the interested parties as Thomas Tuchel hopes to shape the squad following his arrival at Stamford Bridge, with Real Madrid also considering a move for the Austria international.
However, according to the Daily Telegraph, Chelsea will not be able to complete a deal for Alaba unless he significantly reduces his current wage demands.
With Alaba aware that interested teams will not need to seal an expensive transfer fee for him, the defender is apparently hoping to split the difference by requesting wages of around £400,000-per-week.
That pay packet would make him by far and away Chelsea's highest-paid player, and the club are said to be reluctant to meet those demands.
