Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has insisted the club’s youngsters can ‘force their way into the side’ ahead of the new season.
The Blues’s two-window transfer ban will see Lampard look to the club’s best young talent as he bids to improve his squad, with returning loanees such as Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham already being given a chance to impress this pre-season.
Lampard says there will be opportunities for Chelsea‘s best prospects to force their way into his plans ahead of the new campaign, calling on the club’s young players to ‘take it upon themselves to impress’ the new boss this summer.
“Everyone needs to impress, that’s the bottom line,” Lampard told chelseafc.com. “But definitely the opportunity is there for everyone to become a part of this side.
“A lot has been made of the younger players that we have here and whether they can force their way into the side. They need to know that if they do well and impress me and my staff, then the opportunity is there for them to be in this side.
“We have some very good young players here and they have to impress in every game and every training session.
“But from the first moments of the game you could see that the likes of Mason [Mount], Tammy [Abraham] and [Fikayo] Tomori were really at it and that’s what we want.
“We need strong competition throughout the squad and I think we have that here. The Academy is really strong and we’ve worked hard at Chelsea over the past few years to ensure we have these bright talents coming through.
“Now it’s up to those young players to take it upon themselves to impress me and get into the team, because the opportunities will be there if they apply themselves correctly.”
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