Chelsea staff tell Lampard they want to see 23-year-old in his starting line-up more often now – journalist

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Chelsea have reportedly told Frank Lampard they would like him to pick Joao Felix more often, but he’s still completely free to make his own decisions with team selection.

Frank Lampard, who’s Chelsea’s caretaker manager until the end of the season, lost his opening six matches in charge. There was some respite at the weekend by beating Bournemouth 3-1, though.

Now, the Blues have four difficult Premier League fixtures remaining during what’s been a really poor 2022/23 campaign.

Well-respected journalist Simon Phillips has explained on his Substack that Chelsea staff have told Lampard they would like to see more of Joao Felix in games.

However, Phillips has stressed there’s been no forced pressure on Lampard when it comes to the actually picking the starting line-up. He’s clearly been making his own decisions, starting Felix in only two of his seven games in charge.

Felix only joined the Blues mid-season on a short-term loan deal from Atletico, so perhaps the club’s hierarchy want to see if he’s worth bringing back to Stamford Bridge next year.

The Evening Standard recently claimed that Atletico could be open to sending Felix out on loan next season for a deal worth around £16million. As it stands, Chelsea are sounding ways to sign the Portuguese attacker, who could cost £88million to get on a permanent basis.

If Lampard thinks Felix can help us get results in the next few games, we’re happy to see more of the talented attacker.

The skilful forward came off the bench to score in the Bournemouth victory over the weekend, which was his third Chelsea goal since joining earlier in the calendar year.

We are going to need to be at our best in the next four games considering we play three of the Premier League’s top four. There is a clash this weekend against relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest, too.