Frank Lampard has been on a post-lockdown spending spree. I guess he is one of the very few people who can afford to break the bank in times like these. I, on the other hand, have been ignoring my landlord’s phones calls. Enough about me and my pending eviction. Frank Lampard began his series of purchases with £50m (R950m) forward Timo Werner and midfielder Hakim Ziyech, who joined from Ajax for £37m (R570m), with the probable arrival of Kai Havertz taking spending to over £170million (R3.2b).
The fee, according to the Sun, would cost the London club £63million (R1.2b) upfront, with add ons taking the overall cost to over £90million (R1.7b).
After their transfer ban, Chelsea would have finally blown through the £150million (R2.8b) they received from Real Madrid for the sale of Eden Hazard.
Frank Lampard has done a good job for a rookie manager. He had to make do with a squad of talented but green youngsters, a few top-quality players, and older players who are past their prime.
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Lampard’s team is currently third on the EPL log. With only a couple of games left, they are only four points away from a guaranteed champions league spot. The squad, with their new exciting talented young signings, is only going to get better.
However…
All three signings are attackers. Chelsea hasn’t had problems scoring goals. They have issues with keeping them out. Their current crew of centre backs of Antonio Rüdiger, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen are good but not great. Frank may have been best suited to purchase two to three backline players.
The transfer window isn’t closing anytime soon. But the Chelsea board won’t be eager to hand Lampard their credit card after he already put R3.2b on it.
Even though they are probably out of this year’s champions league, I’m confident Chelsea will qualify for next season’s competition. They are in the final of the FA Cup against a below-average Arsenal so I’m pretty sure they will win that trophy too. That would be a very good first year for a first-time manager in the EPL. Next year though, his Chelsea side needs to compete for league honours and go deep in the champions league. There will be no excuses of a transfer ban or being an inexperienced manager at this level.