Chelsea has had a quiet summer but that wasn’t exactly the plan. Due to breaking FIFA rules on signing U18 players from other countries, Chelsea was banned from making any transfers this summer and next January. Despite being able to add Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic due to done deals made in previous windows, Chelsea has not been able to make any more moves.
Despite selling Eden Hazard and David Luiz, new manager Frank Lampard feels that Chelsea is doing fine and wants to eliminate any sort of negativity and lowering of standards at Chelsea. As a result, Lampard has banned players from talking about the transfer ban.
According to Sky Sports, Lampard believes they can be competitive and despite finishing third in the Premier League and winning the UEFA Europa League, Lampard doesn’t want the transfer ban to cloud what they can do this season. Lampard said, “I don’t want – and I said this to the players the first time I spoke to them – I don’t want talk of the ban, I don’t want talk of what is success, what might be success, and any lowering of standards.”
It’s certainly a psychological approach Lampard is employing to keep the positivity despite not being able to sign anyone all season. It might be a little nonsensical but Lampard may have a point. After Liverpool and Manchester City take care of the top two spots, it’s a four team chase for third to sixth and every side in that group of four has big question marks this season. If top four is the big objective, Chelsea has a 50/50 chance to do just that.
[Sky Sports/Photo: Philip Brown/Reuters]
