Frank Lampard took questions from the media today ahead of their Premier League match against Arsenal tomorrow evening.
As is always the way during the transfer window, Lampard was subjected to questions regarding potential player arrivals and departures.
He continued with the theme of suggesting that the club need to sign attackers in order to make them become more clinical with their chances.
First of all, as reported by Football London, Lampard pointed towards the fact that in January, they may need to look at signing short term options rather than the long term.
He said:
“I think long-term in January can be very difficult, we haven’t seen so many. If that’s difficult then short term is something we would look at, because they are issues that are pressing for this season for us to finish where we want to get to. So if we have to look short term then it’s something we would look at.”
Lampard was also a bit more suggestive when he was asked this time if any new arrivals were imminent, usually he has just says no to these questions, but this time he responded slightly differently..
Also changed his line from "no transfers are imminent" on Friday to "no transfers are ABSOLUTELY imminent" today. Something is getting closer, whether or not it's Cavani we'll see, but an experienced attacking player arriving in the next 7 days looks almost certain now.
— Will Faulks (@willfaulks) January 20, 2020
So of course, with Edinson Cavani handing in a transfer request today, as reported by Sky Sports, it was inevitable that Lampard would be asked about him, especially as Cavani would be a ‘short term option’.
Lampard was specifically asked whether Cavani would be a player he would be interested in. Now, instead of simply brushing it off and saying the usual ‘I won’t talk about other clubs players’, he actually fuelled all sorts of new rumours and to me, looks like he sent a message to the Chelsea board that Cavani is absolutely a player he wants to bring in.
Lampard said:
“He’s a great player, I played against him and I always loved his mentality and attitude, and obviously his goal scoring record speaks for itself.
“I’m not absolutely aware of what the situation is, so we’ll see. He’s an experienced player, but so are many other players out there.
“I think we are young, and we know about the transitions. The idea of bringing in experience is something I’m certainly not absolutely looking away from.
“Because sometimes the young players need a little bit of help, and if that’s the case then that may help us.”
