LONDON (AFP) - Frank Lampard will sign a new Chelsea contract, the club's chief executive Peter Kenyon said Friday.

Kenyon also played down reports manager Avram Grant would be sacked at the end of the season if the London club failed to win either the Premier League or Champions League titles.

England midfielder Lampard has criticised what he said was Chelsea's delay in handing him a new deal but Kenyon, speaking at the Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draw at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, told Sky Sports: "The discussions that we'll have with Frank will be kept private and that's important.

"Both parties have made it absolutely clear we want to find a resolution.

"Hopefully we'll do that sooner rather than later."

Asked if the club and Lampard could agree a deal before the end of the season, Kenyon added: "Anything's realistic. I just don't want to add more speculation counting down each day to the summer."

"We're committed - as is Frank - to finding the right solution to keep him at Stamford Bridge."

Lampard, whose current deal expires at the end of next season, had been widely expected to agree a new contract that -- given that he turns 30 in June -- would effectively mean he finishes his career in west London.

But after his four-goal display in Chelsea's 6-1 demolition of Derby on Wednesday, the England midfielder criticised what he sees as foot-dragging by the club's hierarchy.

"I've been approached a few times by the club saying they are going to come to me with something and they haven't," Lampard said.

"That means they're saying they will have to wait until the summer and I don't really know what that means."

Meanwhile Grant, who replaced the charismatic and successful Jose Mourinho in September, has had his position called into question following Chelsea's recent League Cup final defeat against Tottenham Hotspur and last weekend's stunning FA Cup exit at the hands of second-tier Barnsley.

But they are still in the hunt for the Premier League title, with Chelsea five points behind leaders Arsenal and the Blues, one of four English teams in the last eight of the Champions League, will now face Turkey's Fenerbahce in the quarter-finals of European club football's leading competition.

Grant will be expected to bring at least one trophy back to west London before the end of the season but Kenyon said reports that failure to secure silverware this term would lead to the Israeli's exit from Stamford Bridge were wide of the mark.

"None of that is emanating from the club," Kenyon said. "We appointed Avram on a four-year contract back in September. His job was never contingent on silverware this year.

"It's about Chelsea moving on and continuing to build on what's been achieved over the last three years.

"The season's not over yet."