The Guardian - 01.08.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:39 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 19:43 cYanmaGentaYellowb

Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •

Sport^39

Football Premier League

Lampard’s

task mixes

romance

with realism

Jacob Steinberg

New manager has galvanised

Chelsea before season’s start

but he cannot sign players and

Hazard’s exit leaves huge hole

A

s a player, Frank

Lampard became a

European champion,

scored the goals that

ended Chelsea’s

50-year wait for a

league title and went to training

with the sole intention of bettering

himself every day. A relentlessly

hard worker, he has thrown himself

into management with a zeal that

set him apart during his playing

career and has earned a reputation

for playing attractive football and

giving youth a chance. A s an added

bonus he even appears to have heard

of Chelsea’s academy, which should

be good news for players such as

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason

Mount. Andreas Christensen, the

23-year-old Dane, will hope for more

games in defence and Lampard’s

infl uence is shown by Hudson-Odoi,

long coveted by Bayern Munich,

edging towards signing a new deal.

On the face of it there is much to

like about Lampard’s return to the

club he knows inside out, where

he is respected by the notoriously

hard-to-please board and revered

by supporters. It is an appointment

that makes sense on a number of

levels, not least because installing

Chelsea’s record goalscorer should

have a restorative eff ect on the mood

after a year dominated by less than

complimentary chants about the

quality of Sarriball.

Yet for all the romance of

Lampard’s homecoming, there

are awkward realities to confront.

Chelsea have turned to a managerial

novice to replace Maurizio Sarri,

who has been poached by Juventus.

A coach who ended his debut

campaign in England by fi nishing

third in the Premier League and

thumping Arsenal in the Europa

League fi nal. A coach who spent

much of last season seemingly one

game from the sack but succeeded

in his primary objective of getting

Chelsea back into the Champions

League. A coach who was derided

as a joke fi gure and barracked by

supporters, only to walk into a job

with the Serie A champions.

In Sarri’s place arrives a 41-year-

old who has been managing

for a year, fi nished sixth in the

Championship with Derby and

lost the play-off fi nal. In diff erent

circumstances there is no chance

that Chelsea would have asked Derby

for permission to talk to Lampard.

But appointing Lampard now

leads us to another thorny issue:

Chelsea’s inability to make signings

until next summer after being

handed a two-window transfer ban

by Fifa. It threatens to be a major

impediment given they fi nished 26

points behind Manchester City.

Lampard probably would have

welcomed a few signings. Instead he

arrives just as Eden Hazard departs.

Chelsea, so often reliant on Hazard,

are unlikely to be better off without

their one truly elite talent and they

are unable to replace him with a

marquee signing.

At least Christian Pulisic, bought

for £58m from Borussia Dortmund

before Fifa’s punishment landed,

has arrived to fi ll the creative void.

The American can play in the hole

or on the fl anks and could provide

excitement. Yet the 20-year-old

will need time to settle and the

unfortunate truth for Lampard is

that his attack looks far less daunting

without Hazard. Pedro and Willian

can fl atter to deceive and Hudson-

Odoi is recovering from an achilles

injury. As for the strikers, Olivier

Giroud has rarely been a consistent

force in the Premier League,

neither Sarri nor Antonio Conte was

convinced by Michy Batshuayi, and

Tammy Abraham, scorer of 25 goals

during his loan at Villa last season, is

unproven at this level.

Then again it has been a long time

since Chelsea have had a manager

willing to give a raw young talent

such as Abraham a proper chance.

Enough doom and gloom. One of

the best reasons for fast-tracking

Lampard is that his readiness

to promote youngsters off ers a

straightforward way to rejuvenate

the team and having Jody Morris,

who developed a glowing reputation

during fi ve years working in

Chelsea’s academy, as his assistant

will help in that regard.

T

here is a sense that

Chelsea are building

for the future. So

ruthless in the Roman

Abramovich era, it is

possible to detect a

willingness to give Lampard space

to breathe and grow. Hiring Petr

Cech as a technical and performance

adviser is a sign of a desire to build a

proper structure.

Such assurances will give

Lampard the confi dence to trust in

his vision. Chelsea entrusted him

with Mount and Fikayo T omori,

both of whom have returned from

Derby as better players. Mount will

press for a spot in midfi eld, T omori

in defence, while Jake Clarke-Salter

and Reece James will hop e to catch

Lampard’s eye. The transfer limbo

also means Lampard may off er

second chances to outcasts such as

Danny Drinkwater and members of

Chelsea’s returning loan army.

Raw materials are at Lampard’s

disposal. But he must ensure the

positives outweigh the negatives.

In goal, Kepa Arrizabalaga has

vast potential. In central defence,

Antonio Rüdiger has emerged

as a commanding leader. César

Azpilicueta remains dependable

at right-back, Emerson has made

the left-back spot his own and

Lampard’s apparent preference

for 4-2-3-1 over Sarri’s 4-3-3 should

allow N’Golo Kanté to play a more

central role next to the deep-lying

orchestrator Jorginho, a divisive

fi gure last season.

Moving Kanté inside ought

to solidify a side beaten 4-0 by

Bournemouth and 6-0 by City last

season. Yet questions linger. Can

Lampard succeed where others have

failed and curb David Luiz’s rash

tendencies? Is Ross Barkley capable

of a consistent run of form? Was it

a mistake to sign Mateo Kovacic,

an underwhelming presence on

loan from Madrid , on a permanent

basis? Will Ruben Loftus-Cheek be

the same after injury? Do Giroud,

Batshuayi and Abraham convince

up front? And will there be enough

spark without Hazard?

Lampard will need time to come

up with the right answers. Unable to

lean on Hazard’s genius, it will not be

easy keeping up with Pep Guardiola,

Jürgen Klopp and Mauricio

Pochettino. This is a transitional

period and Chelsea should regard

anything more than a top-four fi nish

and a decent Champions League run

as a bonus.

Still, imagine the excitement if it

is Lampard leading a title charge. For

all the current uncertainty it would

be a hell of a story.

with Mount and Fikayo T omori,

both of whom have returned from

te

o

a

a

lo

bb

th

B

u

sp

u

le

e

Jü

P

p

a

a

a

is

a

bb

Andreas Christensen

will hope to make an

impression in defence

 Frank

Lampard will

give playing time

to raw talent

such as Tammy

Abraham

JOE TOTH/BPI/

SHUTTERSTOCK

Dybala holds

key to Lukaku’s

swap move

to Juventus

Fabrizio Romano

Paulo Dybala intends to hold talks
with Maurizio Sarri after he returns
to training at Juventus today before
deciding whether he is prepared to join
Manchester United.
The Argentina international is
wanted by United, who are off ering
Romelu Lukaku in a swap deal. Lukaku
would be happy to join Juventus but
it is uncertain whether Dybala will
accept a move to England.
Dybala, who told Juventus after
last season that he intended to stay,
wants to understand Sarri’s plans
before making a fi nal decision. Sarri
has taken over from Massimiliano
Allegri as head coach but has not yet
worked with Dybala, who was given
time off after the Copa América.
If Sarri informs Dybala that he does
not see a regular fi rst-team place for
him, the player will give serious con-
sideration to joining United. But even
then the 25-year-old, who can play in
a variety of attacking positions, will
demand wages in line with the top
earners at Old Traff ord before agreeing
to move. His agent was in England on
Tuesday for talks with United.
In the meantime Lukaku remains in
limbo. The terms on off er at Juventus
are not a problem for the striker, who
could expect to earn €8m (£7.3m) a
season on a fi ve-year contract. But a
move there appears to hinge on Dybala
going the other way.
Lukaku has been ready to join
Internazionale, who have been trying
for weeks to sign him and still retain
an interest, but Inter have not matched
United’s asking price. Their highest
off er of €70m falls some way short of
the €83m demanded by United, and
they cannot increase that without
selling a player.
Lukaku was not involved in United’s
1-0 win at Kristiansund on Tuesday
and has not played during pre-season.
After the game in Norway, Ole Gunnar
Solskjær refused to discuss Dybala or
Lukaku. “I’m not here to talk about
rumours about other teams’ players,”
the manager said. “We’re working on
one or two cases.”

▲ Paulo Dybala is pondering whether
to trade places with Romelu Lukaku

РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS