Chelsea academy starlet Tariq Lamptey has become the talk of the town after making his senior debut against Arsenal yesterday.
Not only did he make his debut, but he also contributed to Chelsea turning around being 1-0 down at half time, into winning the match 2-1.
The 19-year old was introduced quite early in the second half after Fikayo Tomori was struggling to play in an un-natural role.
Lamptey, a natural right full back, came on and really looked the part.
He added pace, zest, directness, and became a real threat to Arsenal down that right hand side.
Lampard was quick to give the credit of his selection to his two assistant coaches Jody Morris and Joe Edwards, who have both worked closely with, and have coached Lamptey at youth level in recent years.
As reported by The Metro, Lampard spoke about his decision to call Lamptey up after an injury to Reece James, he said:
“Tariq Lamptey is a credit to Jody Morris and Joe Edwards because when we sat and analysed the last two days and we knew Cesar Azpilicueta had a small injury and Reece James is injured then we are looking at options for a right-back or right wing-back.
“They said believe in him, trust in him, because they did and I listened to that.
“We felt it was the right time to bring him into the game and he was a catalyst because we were getting down the sides and he gave us a little bit more of an edge.
“He has pace, a low centre of gravity and can go by people
“He wants to work on his end product but my question to Jody when he came on was has he got the confidence and the personality to deal with this.
“It is a tough game to come on with the responsibility to try to turn it, and Jody said yeah, no problem, and when he drove inside and slipped Tammy in for a shot, it was a great example of someone coming on a bit fearless and sometimes you get that with youth.”
