Former Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood has urged Chelsea to sign a ‘little magician’ during the January transfer window to replace Eden Hazard. After a strong start to life as Chelsea boss, Lampard has seen his side lose four of their last five Premier League games. The west London side is still in the top four but face a trip to rivals Tottenham this Sunday.
Saturday’s shock defeat to injury-ravaged Bournemouth allowed fifth-placed Tottenham to move to within three points of Chelsea, ahead of the London derby on Sunday.
Chelsea is now able to sign players in January after FIFA cut their transfer ban in half earlier this month. Lampard has promised he will not make any knee-jerk signings after the ban was lifted and also because of the club’s recent form.
But Sherwood believes the former England midfielder needs to replace Eden Hazard now he has the ability to do so following the Belgian’s move to Real Madrid in the summer.
Belgian forward Hazard left Chelsea last summer, securing a dream move to Real Madrid for a fee of over £100million. ‘I think Lampard is very honest with his appraisal of the game,’ Sherwood told Premier League Productions. ‘He doesn’t try to hide behind any stats or anything.
‘He knows his team should be beating the teams they’re losing against. They’ve lost four of the last five. It’s easy this job when you’re winning every week. ‘But it’s when the results start going the other way and people start asking questions of you in the media and from upstairs by the hierarchy because they certainly will be. ‘He’s not getting a completely free ride here Frank. There will be objectives and that will be to finish in the top four.
‘Now he’s looking like he’s holding onto that, they’re three points clear of Tottenham now, massive game next weekend. ‘They’re asking questions now so Frank, I sense a wee bit of self-preservation there in his interviews. We’ve all done it, I was a master of that. ‘And listen, he needs to put it right. Now’s the test of your managerial credentials.
Chelsea have been linked with plenty of forwarding players in the transfer window, Wilfried Zaha and Jadon Sancho are the standout players Chelsea have been linked with but Chelsea will have to break their transfer record to prise them away from their current clubs
