FRANK LAMPARD has only been away from his beloved Chelsea for barely two years since getting the sack as boss.
Yet there will still be a raft of new faces for him to get to know.
Since last summer alone the club has signed 17 players.
Mason Mount is a favourite of Frank Lampard but where to play him will be a headache amid a huge squad stuffed with creative players
If and where Kai Havertz fits in is just one of Lampard’s quandaries
Frank Lampard must still be working through all his options
Some, like Raheem Sterling will be familiar, others complete strangers, such as Enzo Fernandez, Benoit Badiashile and Mykhailo Mudryk.
Lampard has only nine Prem games left to turn around a season that is drifting away despite investment of almost £600million on players alone.
There is also Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final at Real Madrid to contend with.
Here’s what is in Lampard’s in-tray as he prepares for his first game back in charge — at Wolves today.
MOUNT A FIGHTBACK
Lampard answered Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly’s SOS so he is doing the American a favour. But he must still be firm over doing things his way.
Midfielder Mason Mount has not got a look in lately despite being fit again.
Coincidence that one of the club’s most devoted and attacking threats has been kept in mothballs while his contract talks have stalled?
Lampard loves Mount, gave him his breakthrough and believes he can be a hugely potent weapon in lifting the tempo of a team which has scored only 29 Premier League goals — fewer than any of the ten teams above them.
KEEPERS
An area to watch closely. Lampard was never a huge fan of Spain’s Kepa — the world’s most expensive keeper at £71.6million.
Lampard signed Edouard Mendy as a replacement but the Senegalese has been frozen out of late. He too is having contract issues.
Now Mendy has recovered from what seemed the longest finger injury in history, will he regain his place with Lampard in charge?
COBHAM, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Chelsea during a training session at Chelsea Training Ground on April 7, 2023 in Cobham, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
STRIKERS
You don’t need a Uefa A coaching licence to see Chelsea have struggled to find the net. They create bags of chances but there is no one to tuck the ball away on instinct.
Veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 33, might as well be selling programmes outside Stamford Bridge. He has played just 65 minutes of football this year.
Potter persevered with Kai Havertz up front when the German even admits he is not a lead frontman.
FORMATION
With 32 players in the squad it is a big job fitting everyone in the dressing room let alone on a pitch. Lampard prefers a back three with wing backs and he has two of the best in Reece James and Ben Chilwell.
That, though, will condense the midfield with N’Golo Kante fit again, Enzo Fernandez and Mateo Kovacic all vying for midfield spots. Where Mount fits in remains a conundrum with Havertz, Sterling, Mudryk, Hakim Ziyech and Joao Felix all battling for three spaces.
KEEPING THE SQUAD HAPPY
No easy task with lots of established players and young hopefuls who want to show what they can do.
Reports of players changing in corridors because the squad is so bloated will not help morale.
WHAT TO PRIORITISE
Chelsea languish in the bottom half of the table — in 11th spot. They are 14 points off the top four so need to win the Champions League this season to qualify for it next campaign.
With the budget on a knife edge having spent so much on players, Boehly either needs extra income or a big player sale to keep the Financial Fair Play wallahs at bay.
That would suggest a s**t or bust attack on Europe and let the Prem ride — but every place in the table is worth in excess of a million quid.
Good luck, Frank.
CHELSEA (likely): Kepa, Fofana, Badiashile, Cucurella, James, Fernandez, Kante, Mount, Felix, Havertz, Sterling.
