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.
Chelsea boss Lampard repeated his desire after Sunday’s win for both players to stay on.
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.
According to Italian sports journalist Fabrizio Romano, 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.
