Frank Lampard believes that Chelsea can still get more out of Enzo Fernandez should he be used in a more advanced position as the Blues look to bounce back from a disappointing season and back into contention in 2023/24. The west London side have seen a great deal of investment in the side over the last 12 months but the Blues caretaker boss believes a Chelsea 'core might have to be developed', as new, younger stars find their feet.
Fernandez can undoubtedly be seen as someone who has settled into Stamford Bridge life quickly amid difficult circumstances. Having arrived for a £106.7million, the World Cup-winner has started every match for the Blues and being a highlight of a disappointing season.
Lampard has spoken a lot in recent weeks about players understanding what is to play for Chelsea. He believes the 22-year-old gets it entirely.
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He said: "Yes. Enzo gets it. He gets what’s required in training. He gets what’s required to be a Chelsea player. He’s got a high talent. Some players just get it. I keep talking about giving players time. But when you work with someone, you understand it very quickly, and I think he gets it."
While Lampard believes Fernandez will be central to Chelsea's future, he also pressed that he should be given time.
"I think we have to look at people like Enzo and Mudryk and Noni and say they will need to be given time," he added, "All the younger players deserve that. It’s not easy to come into a team that isn’t winning. With Enzo, I’ve been really impressed with him as a player, his attitude to training, his attitude to games, his determination. There is something about him. He doesn’t speak the language much at all but he’s learning fast. I’ve got a lot of faith that Enzo will be a big part of what happens in the future of this club. I feel for him a little bit. He’s had a massive move to the Premier League. He’s won the World Cup. He should be sitting back at the end of this season quite rightly putting his feet up and saying: ‘What a year.’ But in terms of how he can affect the future I see him as being essential to the future."
Getting the best out of record-signing Fernandez will be key to the development of the team under a new coach and with Chelsea's transfer priorities lying up front, in goal and in midfield, the profile of the latter will be pivotal. Fernandez has predominantly being fielded at the base of midfield but has hinted at his capabilities higher up the pitch with some quality assists during his short time with the club.
"My personal view of Enzo is he can play probably in all of the midfield roles," explained Lampard. "I think seeing him train and play and getting the feeling from him that he probably has more to offer than to be a single six, as much as he can play as a double-six where he can join into the game more, play as an eight where he can join the game more and offer the really good attributes he's got across his game. That's my personal opinion, I've not asked him the question. In my time here, it's been a fact that he's been the most natural six out of a midfield that doesn't have so many natural sixes in my opinion.
"Fair play to him, he's never once said to me 'that's not for me' because I think that's what his attitude is like, to do the best for the team. Going forward, I think he can join into the game more, we saw little bits of it against Manchester City where he played in the double-six. He ended up higher up the pitch, he's got a really good eye to play forward. At the minute it's something we as a team, as club have not been doing enough in my opinion. Playing forward and being more direct in our game higher up the pitch, finding passes that really test the opposition - Enzo can play that pass so being up the pitch is a good thing."
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There is little doubt that Chelsea's £600million spend was with a view to both now and the future. The club hoped to speed up a transition that was inevitable across a number of positions. Few would argue the team is ready to kick on after a season that will see Chelsea confined to the bottom half of the table.
This coming summer is set to also be busy in the transfer market for the club, perhaps primarily in facilitating outgoing transfers to help trim numbers for the permanent coach appointed. Will the team remaining be good enough to compete next season?
"It will be for them to show," said the 44-year-old coach. "This season it hasn’t been to the level Chelsea expect. It’s certainly not all the responsibility of the players. There are things beyond their control. The size of the squad. Players not getting so many minutes and what that can do for team togetherness and spirit, which is a huge thing. It’s testing. But each player has a big responsibility to keep going and keep showing they’re worthy of playing in the team.
"There’s talent in the squad for sure. But some of that is fresh talent that needs to develop. Some of the best players ever to grace the league have taken a year or so to bed in. There will be younger players that need to improve in terms of understanding the standards that are required at Chelsea, and also to tactically improve and understand their own talents. The talent is there, but there’s a lot of work to be done on the talent-to-work ratio."
He added: "We do have to give time and understanding to some of the players that are younger. In previous years the responsibility of the younger players was not so great because there was stability already. Now, some younger player will have to step up, and that’s obviously a challenge."
While Chelsea will look to form a new core, they may have to do so without one key member of recent seasons. Mason Mount has twice earned Chelsea's Player of the Year award but seems set to depart west London with little progress made over a new deal.
The 24-year-old's current contract is set to expire in 2024, and while expected new boss Mauricio Pochettino is said to be a fan, the prospect of a departure is only looking more likely - something unthinkable 12 months ago when his deal was said to be a priority. Lampard refused to be surprised by the events, however.
The former Everton coach said: "I don't think surprise in football is the word for these things as a lot of things can happen and I wasn’t involved in any of this. So you know that's not the word I would use. And it's a really hard one for me to comment on because I'm not inside Mason's head or even from the club's point of view, my role was clearly what it is. So as I said, I'm not surprised because this is football. Does everyone know that? I really like Mason Mount as a lad and a football player. Yes, sure. Of course, they do. So I wish him the best personally and obviously sitting here with my Chelsea top on now I've seen what Mason's delivered in this club but then we’ll see."
Nevertheless, few clubs have the means to land Mount and that could see Premier League rivals queuing up to take advantage. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are among the clubs linked, while Chelsea's lack of productivity in tying the midfielder down may cause frustration to some. Lampard hopes that the Blues can maintain an environment where players can see the pathway laid out by the likes of Mount, however.
He said: "I think to be fair to this club in the last few years particularly we've seen the hard work of the academy for a long, long time. People like Neil Bath and Jim Fraser have come through and been very good and now delivered in terms of people that affected the team or have been sold on for big money so I think that's been a real positive. It's important that we try and keep that feeling that younger players can see a pathway, get into the Chelsea team and play for the team they grow to love which is Mason, which is Reece James etc. So of course in an ideal world I think that those players stay with the club but again, the modern football world isn't always clear. And again, where I’m no part of this one, but I want to comment much more than that."
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