Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson says that playing in the Champions League is something any player would want, but he remains focused on helping his side stay up.

The man from Coventry has been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge in the last year, following an impressive campaign for Bournemouth in 2018/19.

  • "There were links and talks"

"Of course it is flattering, they are great clubs, massive clubs in the league," Wilson told Sky Sports, when asked about the past interest from the likes of Chelsea.

"There were links and talks but I'm not one to read papers or listen to too much news.

"But you hear it from people - from friends, from family - and it only encourages me to do well really."

  • "Any player would like to play in the Champions League"

Bournemouth are without a victory in their last four league games and sit 18th in the table, level on points with Watford and West Ham just above them.

Wilson insists that while the possibility of playing football at the highest level is tempting, he remains focused on helping the Cherries escape the drop zone.

"Any player would like to play in the Champions League and progress," he continued. "That's what I've based my whole career on.

"First and foremost is obviously keeping Bournemouth up and safe and I haven't been good enough this season to even be talking about things like that.

"I put it to the back of my mind and tried to focus on myself."

With Olivier Giroud's Chelsea future looking very uncertain and Michy Batshuayi struggling to earn any consistent game time, Frank Lampard may dip into the transfer window to bring in someone capable of providing competition for Tammy Abraham up front.

Wilson has the advantage of having played at Premier League level for several seasons and even earned four England caps, scoring once.

Time will tell whether these rumours bare any fruit for the Blues or not.