Frank Lampard has explained the difficult challenge of having an immensely big squad to choose from at Chelsea.
The Blues, who have around 30 players to choose from when everyone is fit and healthy, have lost their last five matches in all competitions, meaning Lampard's return to the club could not have gotten off to a worse start. Lampard is only at Stamford Bridge on a temporary basis, with talks going on behind the scenes in Barcelona as the club look to agree a deal with Mauricio Pochettino.
However, sources have told football.london on Tuesday morning that there is nothing to report that isn't already out there in regards to negotiations with the Argentine. Chelsea remain confident they can strike a deal with the 51-year-old but there is no agreement at the time of writing.
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Pochettino, if an agreement is reached, is expected to take over from Lampard at the end of the season. The club are once again bracing themselves for a hectic summer transfer window but this time around we are likely to see more outgoings than incomings in west London. The squad needs to be trimmed in the coming months, with too many players to choose from right now.
Lampard, when discussing his start to life back at Chelsea in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, has detailed what the club must do behind the scenes in order for things to transform back to how they have been over the last two decades. The former Blues midfielder is very confident, however, that the club will return to the very top.
"It doesn't make me sad," Lampard replied when asked by Sky Sports if the current state of the club makes him upset. "I've just said this in the press conference and I really believe it: Every top club in the Premier League, or in sport, will have moments like this.
"It's impossible to sustain what Chelsea have done in the last 15 or 20 years. It's the envy of most clubs in the Premier League. That isn't always sustainable over a period. You may have lulls in results, when they come down. When you talk about all of the things that are important in sport; culture, and behaviours, and standards – these things are at the base of any podcast you want to listen to about successful teams. They come down with results at times.
"So the importance for [a club] the size of Chelsea is you fight your way to get them back and understand it. Many clubs have been through it. This has been a period for the club, maybe this season, maybe the back-end of last [season] – I don't know what.
"But this club will be back because of the size of it. Also the intentions of the people that are in charge and all the way down are to get this club back. Many clubs have been there. We're in our moment and we'll certainly come back, but there's a lot of hard work to do in that period."
The process to get Chelsea back at the top will be a long-term project, though, Lampard has insisted. It will ultimately begin this summer when a number of players are expected to move on from Stamford Bridge as the club's new-look recruitment team look to trim down the size of the squad.
"No, I don't think football is full of quick fixes," the interim Chelsea head coach added. "The quick fixes are trying every day to improve and you don't always have the answer to that, but we have the summer after this period of games to look at the squad because we know the squad is very big and that's challenging. We've found that out this year.
"You're trying to bring a really strong core of a group to work together and fight in a direction. If everybody is fit here at the moment, then there's eight or nine players that are probably not coming to the game and that is challenging to bring it together.
"The club are aware of that at the moment and I'm sure they'll find the right remedy moving forward to get it in a better position. Because of the intentions and because of the power of Chelsea, I believe we'll be back but we just need to work towards it."
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