Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has admitted that he hopes the Blues can bridge the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City by making some shrewd additions in the transfer market, but uncertainty over what a post-coronavirus future may look like could prove problematic.
Lampard's side currently sit fourth in the Premier League, which is an accomplishment in itself, but the problem is that they are nine points behind City and a whopping 34 behind league leaders Liverpool.
Speaking on Sky Sports' The Football Show, Lampard admitted that Chelsea need to find their own way to get back to the top of the pile, and this summer could be the chance to do just that.
"What Liverpool and Manchester City have done in the last two or three seasons has been very clear," the boss explained.
"I'd probably be a bit of a fool to claim that we will bridge that gap very quickly, because there's been a lot of hard work at those two in terms of recruitment of top players, of great coaches, of players working and improving themselves, and we have to be part of that process.
"That has to look different for us. We can't try and copy that, but we have to look at that. We have the good, young players and we have had experienced players around them that have helped them this year, but we know that there are little areas of the squad [which need improving].
"Some of that is how we might look to recruit going forwards. This period now and what's going on in the world has made it very difficult to plan too much for how this is going to look in weeks or months, so we have to have different versions of plans going forwards.
"Going into this break, I certainly felt like we were moving in the right direction. and with continued progress and work on the training ground, and with potentially bringing in some players in key areas to try and bridge that gap, then yeah I've got a strong belief that we can."
"He went and did it against the best team in the country, he's set a benchmark."#CFC manager Frank Lampard praises youngster Billy Gilmour and looks back on *that* performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup...
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 13, 2020
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It's worth noting that Lampard really stressed the 'key' in that final paragraph, so it's quite clear that he does not want to see Chelsea spend money just for the sake of it this summer.
No more Danny Drinkwaters. Finally.
It has been confirmed to 90min that Chelsea's focus is on spending heavily on a centre-back and a striker, while improving at left-back and goalkeeper is also on the Blues' agenda if the money is there.
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Source : 90min