Lampard: ‘He’s already top-level’
15 APR 2023
Caretaker manager counters doubts about Chelsea star and backs Academy to keep delivering…
Frank Lampard famously deployed to good effect the pool of homegrown talent available to him when he was previously choosing the Chelsea team between 2019 and 2021.
His faith in the work of the club’s Academy, which he had witnessed up close when a player and had then recruited from in his managerial role at Derby County, was clear and he was happy to talk about it at the time too.
Now, back at Stamford Bridge and Cobham, Lampard has been speaking about our youth system once again and although the club is now under new ownership, he does not expect the tap to be turned off when it comes to high-level youngsters being produced or indeed incorporated into the squad.
‘I think there is an appreciation of what the Academy gives, from fans who always relate to young players, and ownerships that like the fact you are developing players who are either huge assets for you or if they move on, are also assets that you can receive good fees for,’ he states.
‘Harking back to the past, my job as a coach was to try to develop as many players as I could, it is a pleasure for me to see people like Mason Mount, Reece James, Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah and those who are still here. They always have a real affiliation to the club having been through the Academy.
‘The decision for some younger players to move on has not been mine,’ Lampard adds. ‘Fikayo Tomori for instance, and Tammy Abraham, they were club decisions at the time and that is done.
‘This club has one of the best academies in certainly the Premier League, and also the world, and that has been for a long time. Neil Bath should take great credit for that.
‘In my time at the club I had a really good bunch of players who came through at a good time and imposed themselves on the squad. The first thing you need is the quality of player who can do that, they don’t come along every day, but when they are there, there is no doubt they will still be appreciated at this club and they will get their opportunity when they deserve it. That is how it should run.’
One of the most prominent players who broke through at Chelsea under Lampard was of course Mason Mount. It has not been the smoothest of seasons for our back-to-back Player of the Year, with a pelvic injury troubling him of late. The 24-year-old was able to return after seven games out when he came on during the game in Madrid and he had a late shot blocked. Lampard addressed doubts some have voiced about Mount’s continuing impact.
‘I am not going to tell anyone what opinion they should have on football but if anyone thinks Mason Mount is not already a top-level player then I am not sure what they are seeing,’ he declared.
‘Form is one thing that people can debate, players are getting debated more now than they ever were in my career, with social media, but from working with Mason, and you can ask myself, you can ask Thomas Tuchel, you can ask Gareth Southgate, you can ask Graham Potter, he is clearly a top player.
‘I have come back and he has got his small injury problem but he felt okay in the game the other day and he did as good a job as he can, him and Conor coming on to help us close out the game with 10 men.
‘It may be a little process over the next game or two of getting Mason to where we really want him to be. Fingers crossed that the injury is fine but he is a top player and a top lad and he does have a big affiliation with the club.
‘The first thing a top player should have is a real hunger to succeed and he has had that since the first day I took him to Derby. He is still a young player and he can go even further but at the moment, he is already a top player.’
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不知道幹嘛要講 "這不是我的決定"，亞伯拉罕就算了，托莫里第二個賽季真的是不給機會，去了米蘭後就不想回來了，完全阿奇 2.0。
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