Chelsea nanager Frank Lampard will no doubt have plenty of timely topics to discuss when he addresses the media this week ahead of the next match, at home versus Southampton FC. Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is already a doubt, having been sent back to Chelsea from Senegal national team camp, due to injury.
Additionally, 23-year-old left back Ben Chilwell, due to a preexisting foot injury, has been dismissed from England camp and returned to the London club for fitness assessment. Additionally, there are now fresh reports of midfielder N’Golo Kante being unsettled, and wanting a move away from the club.
But let’s start with Chilwell, the big money signing in the back line from Leicester City this summer. He didn’t feature for Three Lions this international break as he (along with Tammy Abraham and Jadon Sancho) were caught in violation of the national team’s COVID-19 precautions.
Additionally, his start to the season was delayed, due to a heel injury.
His first start didn’t come until Sept 29, in the Carabao Cup loss to Tottenham Hotspur on penalties. He did score and register an assist in the last game though, a 4-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace on October 3.
Moving on to Kante, a report in the French media, via Le Parisien, claims he wants out of Stamford Bridge. Reportedly, he had a row with Lampard over being allowed to skip training in order to attend a friend’s wedding.
Linked with moves to a few big clubs, in transfer rumors for a couple windows already, the report goes on to say that he wants to move to Real Madrid within the year. The Frenchman was also linked to Manchester United and Inter Milan this past summer.
Some of this narrative could just be overblown, backpage gossip material. Or there could be really be something to this, after all.
You can expect Lampard to be asked about this by a reporter on Friday, and you can also expect his response to be minimal, and whatever he does say will be in the interest of trying to downplay the situation.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.