Former Chelsea defender turned coach Ashley Cole said Frank Lampard will be under pressure as Roman Abramovich is showing he wants to win again.
Last summer’s transfer ban put Lampard under an unusual situation as a Chelsea manager.
The former England international had to rely on returning loanees such as Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Reece James and Fikayo Tomori who never really had a regular season in the Premier League prior to this season.
On the other hand, Lampard was under more lenient scrutiny from the club and the fans. It was always about getting the top-four finish, and Lampard delivered.
However, Lampard’s former Blues teammate Cole believes things would be different in the next season.
Cole said Chelsea owner Abramovich has shown his support this transfer window, and it only means one thing: he wants to win.
Cole told ESPN: “Who knows what would have happened if Chelsea hadn’t had a ban?
“But there’s a lot of pressure being a manager of Chelsea. The owner [Roman Abramovich] wants to win.
“He felt that winning feeling and he wants to do it again, so any manager who goes in is under pressure.”
New leaders at Chelsea
Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner have been the only two major signings this summer, but recent reports suggest Chelsea are close to signing Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz and Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell.
Cole also believes that Ziyech and Werner could become new leaders at Chelsea for the young Chelsea squad given their experience as arguably best players in their respective old clubs.
“Although the new players that have come in are young, they’ve got experience of playing Champions League, they were stars of their team,” he added.
“They can give that leadership off the pitch and on it as well because we had a lot of leaders when I was a player here.”
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