Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, says he expects Frank Lampard to honour his contract even if the club is unable to persuade him to sign a new deal.

Chelsea turned down an £8 million offer from Inter Milan last night, but relations between the England midfield player and his club remained strained after a turbulent 24 hours.

Luiz Felipe Scolari found himself at the centre of the row in his first media conference in England, with Lampard denying his new manager’s claims that he had committed his long-term future to Stamford Bridge. Lampard has been insistent, at least publicly, that he wants to stay at Chelsea and yet he has stunned the club by not only refusing a deal worth about £130,000 a week, but also by repeatedly demanding a five-year contract.

Reports suggest Chelsea will offer the 30-year-old only a four-year extension and believe that term is the most Lampard will receive from Inter. "The situation is ongoing," Kenyon said. "We have always maintained that we want Frank to stay and an offer was made to that effect. That offer is still on the table. Frank is under contract and he still has one year to run on that.

"We'd like to hope we can reach an agreement but if we can't we have always worked on the basis that Frank sees out the terms of his contract.

"Chelsea has made its position very clear to Internazionale and they have come back now with a financial offer. That will be rejected.

"Contrary to what you may have read it is totally untrue that Felipe [Scolari] was pushing the club or putting pressure on us to change the offer to Frank. At no stage was he ever in conflict with the club's position or asked the board or the owner to change the offer."

Kenyon also confirmed the club are continuing to pursue their transfer targets in a bid to strengthen their squad, following the arrival of Deco and Jose Bosingwa. Chelsea have been linked with a number of players, including Kaka, the Brazilian playmaker, and Kenyon stressed he would "support" Scolari in the transfer market.

"We are all very excited by both players," Kenyon said. "You saw at Euro 2008 what an offensive player Bosingwa is and Deco needs no introduction to football fans.

"I think they give us a very forward-looking dimension. It is just a coincidence that Felipe Scolari became our manager after we signed Bosingwa. He was always on our list and every manager I have happened to speak to has said what a great signing he is.

"We have been linked with all sorts of names, that's inevitable during the transfer window and most of them you can dismiss as speculation. But clearly we have one or two targets and we want to support the manager with the players he wants.

"Everybody thinks players like Kaka and Ronaldinho for example are fantastic players but Felipe made it clear that players like that being linked with us is just speculation."

Scolari's arrival has coincided with fresh speculation about the role of Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner. The Russian's relationship with Jose Mourinho broke down after suggestions Abramovich was buying players against the wishes of his manager.

However, Kenyon insists Scolari and Abramovich want an 'open' working relationship.

"It's an important relationship in any club, the owner and manager, or chairman and manager depending on the structure," he said." Chelsea is no different, there is just more emphasis on it here.

"Roman has invested not only money but time and emotional investment in Chelsea and he has every right to know how we come to decisions, the thought processes that go into those decisions and so forth.

"People misunderstand that for meddling or interfering. It is not. He likes to be engaged because he loves football and he much prefers that engagement to be voluntary.

"Felipe made it clear yesterday he wants an open relationship and that is not a problem for him. Maybe in the past that didn't happen and led to some issues. There's nothing wrong with the manager and the owner doing that and Felipe was more than happy with the fact that this is one of the dynamics of Chelsea.

"I think another point is relevant here. Roman is incredibly busy with a lot of business to deal with. That has increased recently so there are more demands on his time.

"People read all sorts of things into why he is not at this match or that match. It's irrelevant, because believe me no matter where he is he takes a huge interest and that is not the actions of a man who is not committed long term or who has lost interest."