Chelsea manager Frank Lampard finds himself in a very good position that many other managers would be envious of, he has selection headaches in key areas all over the pitch when everyone is fit.
It’s a great problem to have for him, bringing competition and squad depth. However, the issue this may bring is player unhappiness.
Christian Pulisic insists that he is fine with how things are going at Chelsea and is happy to work for his starting spot. But you wonder what will happen the longer it goes on that he is not being selected.
January is soon upon us and many have started mentioning a potential loan move away for the United States international if he is still not starting matches at Chelsea.
This certainly seems an extreme solution and Pulisic doesn’t strike me as a player who will give up that soon.
Lampard was also very blunt in response to a question at his press conference yesterday asking if Pulisic will be loaned in January. As reported by Football London, he simply responded with, ‘no’.
Lampard said:
“With Christian he’s come to us in a big move, let’s make no mistake about it, and then he’s just turned 21 recently, and we’ve got a competitive squad here.
“I said it before the last game, I always have a problem who to pick and people make my decisions in training or how they’re playing, and at the minute with winning four on the bounce I need the edge of staying in the team and keep performing and everyone is the same.
“With Christian coming here, we have to protect him for that fact because he’s young.
“Christian, as with every player in the squad, needs to work hard in training, keep improving in training, see the direction we’re going, be a part of it, and show what you can do on a match day, and all the players are the same there.
“It is [easy to forget his age]. You can look beyond that because he came through at a very young age at Dortmund and huge credit to him for that. It’s amazing to come through that. He was playing at a top level team at Dortmund.
“There were times when he was in the team, times when he wasn’t, that’s part of development.
“I was fortunate when I came through in my day because West Ham didn’t have too many players in front of me, so I got opportunities. The pathway was open.
“With Christian, huge credit to him for coming through at Dortmund at a young age, but then it brings other difficulties where sometimes you’re out of the team.”
