Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard believes the Premier League title race is open despite the club being on the verge of signing Romelu Lukaku from Inter.
The Blues have agreed a £97.5m deal with Inter Milan for the striker, who underwent a medical in Milan on Monday and is now set to fly to London to officially complete the deal.
Thomas Tuchel had made signing a striker his top transfer priority this summer transfer window, with his team creating several chances last campaign but often failing to convert them.
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Lukaku, who scored 24 goals in Serie A last campaign, should solve that problem and the London side will fancy their chances of closing the 19-point gap to champions Man City.
Pep Guardiola’s team have also spent big, breaking the league transfer record to sign Jack Grealish in a £100m deal, though Lampard believes it will not be a two-horse race this time around despite the huge spending.
Asked whether Chelsea – who are interested in signing Jules Kounde – are now in a straight shoot-out with Man City, Lampard told Hayters: ‘No, I don’t think you can discount Manchester United.
‘They were not far off last year and they’ve gone again and I think brought in really impressive signings.
‘And I think Liverpool will be the same. They missed huge players through injury for a big part of last season and the year before they were one of the best teams we’ve seen in the Premier League.
‘So you definitely can’t discount those as much as you can’t discount the teams pushing those from beneath or just behind.
‘Leicester, we saw them win at the weekend, West Ham have improved greatly, Aston Villa – they’ve lost Jack Grealish but they’re bringing in really strong players and have a stronger squad.
‘So it makes for an exciting season and we’ll see [what happens].’
