Chelsea: Frank Lampard doesn’t have an English bias

Despite what social media will have you believe, Frank Lampard doesn’t have a bias toward English players, he just wants to win.

Frank Lampard is looking to build on his first successful season in the Chelsea hot seat. With a couple of signatures already in the bag, he’s looking closer to home for more upgrades, but is there something sinister afoot. Lampard is beginning to construct a side that will be forever known as “his” Chelsea. Already this pre-season, Marina Granovskaia, with the aid of Roman Abramovich’s money, has brought in Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner. If the rumour mill is to be believed, the spending won’t stop there.

Any Blues fan that has watched Chelsea over the last couple of years will be clear on the areas of the pitch that need to see a change. Key amongst those is the left back slot. It’s a position that has never been bettered since Ashley Cole left in 2014. The smart money is currently on Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell starting the 2020/21 season there ahead of Marcos Alonso. Chilwell was just beginning his football career when the Foxes picked up the Premier League in 2015, but let’s hope he’ll be more like N’Golo Kante rather than Danny Drinkwater throughout his time in London should he sign.

Goalkeeping issues prevailed throughout last season and is another area that could see a change. Kepa Arrizabalaga had what can only be described as a difficult second season at Stamford Bridge; so difficult, he may well find himself competing for his starting place with someone younger than the ever-reliable Willy Caballero. The Argentine has undoubtedly served the club well, but Arrizabalaga needs a stronger opposition if he’s to ever truly command the No. 1 position. A couple of the names being mooted are—like Chilwell—English. Nick Pope and Dean Henderson are both potential candidates to fight Arrizabalaga for his starting place, although Andre Onana, the Cameroonian international, maybe a better bet.

The central defensive pairings this past season, whoever they were, also struggled to cope. Whether you consider West Ham’s Declan Rice to be a defender or not, his name is being linked with a move to fill that spot. Despite a name that would indicate an Irish heritage—which, of course, he has—Declan Rice is English. A relatively new name in the frame is Brighton captain Lewis Dunk. The 28-year-old Englishman would certainly add plenty of experience to the back line, but time will tell on that one. There’s a target pattern emerging and one that may make some fans feel uncomfortable. Does Lampard favour players from his own country of birth? The Twitter-sphere is now asking that same question.

Adding fuel to that social media fire, Chelsea’s much maligned academy set-up has produced several English youngsters that have consistently made the starting line-up throughout the last campaign. Lampard has used them to full effect with former Cobham coaches Jody Morris and Joe Edwards at his side, why wouldn’t he though? Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all played a part in grabbing a Champions League place for the upcoming season. By adding further English players familiar with the league and the intense rivalries that exist within it, the group is, perhaps, strengthened further.

Generally speaking, English clubs are lauded for having a fair degree of English players within their starting XI’s; see Tottenham Hotspur. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Chelsea though. The Blues fanbase, however, does seem to like an argument‚—Sarri-in, Sarri-out instantly springs to mind. We saw Lampard getting grief for constantly playing Mount over anyone else last season, as well. There were definite comparisons to be had there between Maurizio Sarri’s use of Jorginho and Lampard’s use of Mount as the Sarri-in crowd tried to avenge the loss of its leader in the pettiest of ways.

A look at other leagues across the globe shows that they don’t employ such a diverse selection of nationalities as the Premier League. If results are anything to go by, that certainly strengthens their respective international sides. According to Transfermarkt, Spain’s La Liga has a foreign contingent of just 36.6 percent; the top leagues across Europe are as follows: France 47.9 percent, Germany 51.9 percent, Italy 60.5 percent. Perhaps, the Premier League is rich in cultural diversity because it is financially buoyant, it edges out those Euro leagues with 62.8 percent of the league’s players coming from other shores.

Throughout Abramovich’s tenure at the club, Chelsea has always been regarded as the most multinational of all clubs. Surprisingly, even before the Russian arrived, Chelsea became the first Premier League team to field a starting XI consisting solely of foreign players. That was in 1999 when Gianluca Vialli was in charge. Back then it was considered to be negative, now it’s encouraged.

The ability to fill squads with players from overseas hindered the opportunities of homegrown players further down the football pyramid. Their chance for progression upwards would be stunted as more foreign talent was bought in. That, over time, brought about the ‘homegrown rule’ for the Premier League. That law stated that a certain number of squad players were to have had a connection to an English team for at least three years and they didn’t even need to be English to apply—Cesc Fabregas was homegrown, for example.

With a wealth of multinational coaches in the league, it’s no wonder they look around the world in their recruitment policies. Why not use the local knowledge they’ve collected on their travails to aid their success? What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander though; so, why shouldn’t Lampard do the same with players from his country?

If there is any kind of belief that Lampard has xenophobic tendencies in his team selection or that of potential transfer targets then a look back over his first season ought to allay those fears. Callum Hudson-Odoi couldn’t get a game over Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham was relegated to a secondary striker role below Olivier Giroud as the season progressed. After a promising season with Derby County, Fikayo Tomori barely got a game; Ross Barkley was never an automatic pick either. When it comes down to it, it shouldn’t matter where you are from. Being good enough or simply being the right choice for a particular game is all that should be of concern.

As we look forward to watching Ziyech and Werner next season, it’s clear there’s nothing sinister in Lampard’s management style. He’s doing what he can to win football matches and of course, that’s all that matters.