Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard has challenged his young players to embrace the competition if the club signs any big names in January after Chelsea’s transfer ban was overturned on appeal.
It was revealed on Friday that the Court of Arbitration for Sport has halved the initial two-window ban that the Blues were stung with.
After not being able to strengthen the squad in the summer, those at Stamford Bridge are now in the position of being able to bolster their ranks in January.
The Premier League club will now be able to bring new players to Stamford Bridge next month, and Chelsea is bracing themselves for a stunning £150m spending spree. Despite Chelsea’s promising start to the season – the Blues have won nine of their first 15 league fixtures – Lampard knows reinforcements will be needed to sustain their top-four challenge.
‘When Roman Abramovich came in, the landscape changed,‘ Lampard said. ‘Players came into my position, Makelele from Real Madrid, (Juan Sebastian) Veron et cetera.
‘It made me stand up and take notice and prove that I am better than them. No player is the same. But what is the same is that you need to be competitive.
‘As much as it is important to bring in, it is as important for me that we keep the balance of the squad right.
‘I don’t see just the 11 players who start, but the squad of 20-plus men that need to help us over the course of the season.
‘So if we are going to bring in players or players leave it will be with a view as my part as a manager to go in that direction.’
Leicester left-back Ben Chilwell is a target of Lampard’s, while Borussia Dortmund attacker Jadon Sancho and Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha are also on the manager’s radar. Chelsea has conceded 21 goals in their 15 Premier League games so far – the same number as Bournemouth – and have only kept three clean sheets, which is fewer than relegation-threatened West Ham which means that the club will look to sign a new center-back.
