Tie stars down to long-terms deals, insists Lampard

FRANK LAMPARD has urged Chelsea to ensure manager Antonio Conte is kept out of the hands of Inter Milan and to tie down Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa to long-term contracts so that these players can match the golden teams of the past 10 years.

Chelsea’s record scorer says that the club will ensure Conte stays — and they must do the same for star players to keep them out of the clutches of the likes of Real Madrid.

Lampard said: ‘We’ve all heard the stories about Inter Milan wanting Conte and I am sure the club will want to put that to bed as soon as possible.

‘The job he has done has been incredible and I think he will want to stay because he will want to take this team as far as possible. This is Antonio Conte’s team. They are his players.

‘He is from Italy, he’s proved himself a great manager, and Inter Milan now seem to have owners who are talking about big things. I don’t know the ins and outs, but I am sure Chelsea will do everything they can to keep Antonio happy.

‘They will want to reward him for this — as all top teams do. It’s not just the manager. There’s talk about Hazard, about Costa, about Courtois. But you can’t win titles or go into the Champions League without having top players who can make the difference. This year, players like Costa and Hazard have (done) that, so Chelsea will be desperate to keep them.’

Lampard says Conte is emulating the first Jose Mourinho era and has restored the club after the calamitous 2015-16, which saw Mourinho sacked. ‘When Jose came into the club he took over a team of boys and turned us into winners.

‘Antonio inherited a squad that had won the league two years before but were on a real downer, but he has done a similar job to Jose. They both brought an organisation to Chelsea, instilled a winning mentality. ‘Now the big test is for Chelsea to go again next year. Chelsea will have to improve because they will have to deal with Champions League football. They will have to add to the squad — players who are top class.

‘There’s no point bringing in players who aren’t better than they have got already. That’s going to be tough because the team already looks almost complete.

‘I hope it can be the next golden generation for Chelsea, but it is going to be hard for any one team to dominate the Premier League again over a number of seasons. Antonio will know that City, Liverpool, United and Tottenham are not going to stop challenging.

‘These clubs are going to come hard again. It’s not like a few years ago when it would be between two or three clubs. There are now six or seven.’