Jose Mourinho hopes new Chelsea manager Frank Lampard looks to the club’s current young players and says their only problem has been losing Eden Hazard to Real Madrid.
With a transfer ban imposed, Lampard will have a unique situation to work with at the club; something Jose Mourinho says could work in the blues advantage.
In an interview with Sky Sports News, the former Chelsea manager says he is reserving judgement on Lampard’s managerial ability until the results come in, and gave an insight into his character as a player.
With Christian Pulisic finally arriving, Mateo Kovacic making his loan move permanent and the likes of Tammy Abraham and Kurt Zouma returning from loans, Chelsea do still have options for the new campaign.
Mourinho claims his former team should use this situation to make the most of what they have at the club, and singles out Kurt Zouma for praise, having handed the Frenchman his debut in 2014.
“It depends on what you have in the academy, that’s the point,” Mourinho said. “I think every manager in the world loves to play kids from the academy.
“The question is: what is the product from the academy? What can you work with to improve?
“I think Chelsea is a very special club in relation to that. I just give an example: Chelsea needs a centre-back – Kurt Zouma! You don’t need to buy, you don’t need to spend. Zouma!
“He’s champion of England, he played for Chelsea, played for Stoke in the Premier League, played for Everton in the Premier League, played for France. He’s your player, he’s on loan, where are you going to buy a better player than him? You already have him.
“You want a young striker – Tammy Abraham! He’s yours. He knows the club. He was made at the club, he was educated at the club. He was on loan, he played already some matches in the Premier League, he plays in the Championship but Championship at the highest level with the responsibility to play at a big club like Aston Villa. He’s ready.
“Do you need to buy a young centre forward? No! And Chelsea were criticised many times with the number of players they had on loan, more than 30 players, 40 players, but now the moment arrived and they have answers like nobody else could have.
“They have the answers, so I don’t think it’s any problem for them. The only problem for them is obvious which is that they lost a phenomenal player. Eden Hazard was a special player for Chelsea and they lost him, apart from that I don’t see any problem for them.”
Mourinho also gave his verdict on whether Frank Lampard will succeed or fail at Stamford Bridge.
“You know, time will see,” Mourinho said. “Only time. It would be nice and easy for me to say, because I love him, that he’s going to be a phenomenal manager.
“It would be very nice for me to say, but I’m not going to say that, and I cannot also say I don’t believe he’s going to do it, because that’s not the way I feel.
“I feel that he has a potential, I feel that he loves, which is a very important thing, he loves – that’s the reason why he is there – and I wish him the best but only time can speak and in a few years we will see.”
