For 16 years Chelsea have talked about this moment. Even when Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, they would tell the world that Chelsea would be self-sustaining one day, that their revamped academy would be producing such good players, they would no longer need to spend millions in the transfer market.
And this week, Chelsea might finally make good on their intention. An approach to Derby County will be made about recruiting Frank Lampard, the club’s record goalscorer, to manage the club.
Meanwhile, Petr Cech will soon be confirmed as sporting director, a post which has badly needed filling since Michael Emenalo left.
If he is named as Chelsea boss Frank Lampard will face a host of problems
With Jody Morris, Lampard’s assistant at Derby and former Chelsea Under-18 manager, set to return as first-team coach and Didier Drogba potentially part of the team, there is an unmistakeable sense of getting the old gang back together. And maybe Chelsea are finally becoming a mature football club.
They have even had spurts of this before, such as when Emenalo signed them a team to take on the world — including Kevin De Bruyne, Mohammed Salah, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois — until a succession of managers and directors allowed them all to slip away to rivals.
But with Lampard in charge and Cech at the helm, Chelsea may have finally turned into an organic football club rather than an oligarch’s plaything.
It seems Cech, a man with a unique relationship with Abramovich and the board among former players, has been crucial in persuading the real powerbrokers of Marina Granovskaia and Bruce Buck to head down this route.
It seems that Petr Cech has been crucial in persuading Chelsea to appoint Lampard
The alternative candidates to Lampard look unrealistic for Chelsea. Ralf Rangnick, sporting director at RB Leipzig, is rated the best in the game for what Chelsea need: a restructuring of the club. Yet he requires total control to work properly. Good luck getting that past the Chelsea board.
Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves would have been a natural choice in former days when his agent, Jorge Mendes, had a special relationship with the Chelsea board. Yet Mendes’ company is now part-owned by Fosun, the Chinese trading conglomerate, who also own Wolves and who should be able to out-muscle a Russian oligarch.
So as Chelsea settle on Lampard, they also are choosing a new path and will now engage with the raft of young talent lurking in their ranks, who were often ignored.
Callum Hudson-Odoi is more likely to commit long term to Chelsea with Lampard at the helm
Ethan Ampadu, who hardly played under Maurizio Sarri, will benefit from Lampard's guidance
Principally, 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi, who is now more likely to commit long term to the club, will be central to the youth revolution.
Morris knows him from his days as U18 team manager. Hudson-Odoi is much more
