David Ornstein divulged on what Frank Lampard told Timo Werner of his future plans, as part of the strategy to sign the striker for Chelsea.
The Athletic’s Football Correspondent spoke confidently on their official Youtube channel about the strategies that Lampard had laid out when attempting to pry the 24-year-old away from RB Leipzig.
Chelsea were in a race with Liverpool to direct Werner towards the Premier League, however it was the Blues who finished in pole position, agreeing a five-year deal worth £45m (Sky Sports).
The German international was joined by his fellow countryman, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell, that took Chelsea’s summer spending over the £200m mark (BBC Sport). Include Thiago Silva on a free, and the Blues had an incredibly rich transfer window.
Although the bucks were big, Ornstein said one of the main reasons the likes of Werner decided on Chelsea was because Lampard had projected his blue prints for the next two years.
He said, “I know that in negations with the likes of (Timo) Werner about joining Chelsea, Lampard spoke about a two-year project that saw him blend world class young players with experienced pros to lead Chelsea back to being competitive for the top domestic and European honours.”
Lampard certainly has that mixture he promised to his latest recruits, yet results and performances have taken a down turn, coinciding with the disappointing form of Werner and Havertz.
Usually, this would spell seriously bad omens for a manager in his position, however Ornstein mentioned that Lampard had already promised his prize possessions that he would be going nowhere, in spite of any poor form.
“He (Lampard) reassured them he had the clubs backing on that and even if there was a downturn in results, they wouldn’t act as they have with previous managers.”