Pedro hoping to sign short-term Chelsea contract TODAY as he waits on Roma to offload players before free transfer
FRANK LAMPARD’S hopes of securing Pedro on a short term deal rest in Rome.
The winger has agreed a deal to join Italian side Roma but is now waiting on his new club to free up finance to pay his wages by offloading players of their own.
As a result Pedro’s future is in limbo and he is holding out on signing a contract to extend his time at Chelsea by six weeks.
The highly-decorated Spaniard was on the bench for Sunday’s 2-1 win at Aston Villa.
The deadline for signing short term contracts for the remainder of the season is today.
Pedro’s team-mate Willian is in the same position as he too becomes a free agent at the end of the month.
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Chelsea boss Lampard repeated his desire after Sunday's win for both players to stay on for the rest of the season.
However Lampard has already signed Hakim Ziyech from Ajax and Timo Werner from RB Leipzig, so Pedro will be allowed to leave before next season.
Pedro, 33, has an incredible haul of 25 trophies during his career with Barcelona and Chelsea.
Last season he became the first player in history to have scored in the finals of the Champions League/Cup, the European SuperCup and the Europa League/Uefa Cup.
Pedro is also the first footballer ever to win the Champions League, the Premier League, the Europa League, the World Cup and the European Championships.
And that isn't all for his trophy haul after huge success during his time in Spain with Barca.
He has won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
But one Blues player has already moved to Italy permanently - without ever playing for the Premier League side.
Mario Pasalic has signed a permanent deal with Atalanta after the Serie A side decided to exercise the clause in his loan deal.
The German midfielder, 25, has spent the last two seasons on loan with the Italian outfit, scoring 15 goals across 74 appearances.
An agreement was put in place earlier in the season and Atalanta took to Twitter on Monday to confirm that they have completed the transfer.
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According to Italian sports journalist a sum of £13.5m will go to the Blues.
Pasalic signed for Chelsea from Hajduk Split in his homeland of Croatia in 2014 as part of a £3m deal.
But in his six years on the books at Stamford Bridge, he did not make a single first-team appearance.
Pedro record breaker
First player to score in:
- Champions League final
- Europa League final
- European SuperCup
First player to win:
- Champions League
- Europa League
- Premier League
- World Cup
- Euros