Chelsea want Gerrard

Lampard lures Gerrard

Chelsea have admitted they would try to sign Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard if he became available.

The Anfield captain is rated at £35m and Chelsea have been strongly tipped to make a record-breaking move for him.

"Gerrard is one of the best and were it possible we'd be extremely interested," said chief executive Peter Kenyon.

And new Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho told BBC Five Live: "If he comes, I'll welcome him with open arms. If he doesn't, I'll admire him anyway."

It's great to see how Lampard and Gerrard have played together Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon

But the former Porto coach added: "I don't know the distance between the dream and reality."

Kenyon also drew on the partnership emerging between England team-mate Frank Lampard and Gerrard at Euro 2004as a potential deal-breaker.

"It's great to see how Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and Steven have played together and Steven certainly comes into the Lampard class," said Kenyon

With Roman Abramovich's millions at his disposal, Chelsea have also been linked with a move for Everton's Wayne Rooney, but the Blues have denied making any formal approach for the England star.

"Rooney's been the talk of the tournament. He's been incredible, particularly coming off a fairly average season," said Kenyon.

"But there's so much speculation, and if we started reacting to all the speculation we would literally do nothing else."

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