Lampard rubbishes reports saying Mount’s unsettled by Havertz
Frank Lampard has dismissed claims Mason Mount was unsettled by Kai Havertz’s big-money Chelsea arrival as “absolutely fabricated”.
Germany forward Havertz has joined Chelsea in a £70million deal as the Blues have shelled out more than £200m on summer recruits.
Reports in Germany claimed Mount had been threatened by Havertz’s move from Bayer Leverkusen, though the England star’s dad rubbished the suggestions on Twitter.
And now Chelsea manager Lampard has rejected those assertions, insisting his homegrown stars have relished the summer’s highprofile arrivals.
“I saw the story about Mason Mount, I know it was absolutely fabricated from somebody, particularly if it came from the German end,” said Lampard.
“I don’t know if he’s got any friends or relatives over there he would talk to, it’s a strange angle for that to come from Mason.”
Chelsea open their new campaign at Brighton tomorrow, with Havertz and Germany team-mate Timo Werner ready for action.
Hakim Ziyech will miss out with a knee injury that Lampard hopes will only prove short term, while Ben
Chilwell is not sufficiently over his heel issue.
Thiago Silva only started training with Chelsea this weekend, so the Amex Stadium trip will be too soon, but captain Cesar Azpilicueta and USA forward Christian Pulisic are in the reckoning.
Chelsea’s transfer ban forced Lampard’s hand into ushering through a host of young talents last term, but the demanding Blues boss has made up for lost time with his raft of new recruits this summer.
“With the young players who’ve got into the team and the way football is at a club like Chelsea, if you’re a young player who has a foot in the door and the club brings in players around you that raise levels, the players should, and hopefully will, raise their levels; and everybody improves,” said Lampard.
“I’ll be fair when I pick the team; I don’t pick the team on whether you came through the academy or not, I pick the team on how the players train and how we’ve been performing.
“So everybody should be positive going into the season and worry about the unity of the squad and the results we get as a team.”
▪ Graham Potter expects creative midfielder Adam Lallana to have a “very powerful” influence at Brighton given his successful experiences with Liverpool.
Albion won the race to sign England international
Lallana on a free transfer in the summer after his Reds contract expired.
The 32-year-old left Anfield as a Premier League champion, having collected a Champions League winner’s medal under Jurgen Klopp the previous season.
He is likely to make his Seagulls debut against the Blues and head coach Potter believes the player will make a major impact at the club.
“I can speak a lot about what you need to do and I can give advice, but you’ve got somebody that has seen it first-hand and has achieved it,” said Potter. “And that’s very powerful from a leadership perspective, from a culture perspective, from how we work every day. He’s a fantastic person, a good character, good team-mate, wants to help the players. He’s not just focused on himself. That’s important for us.
“From the short time we’ve seen him and worked with him, he’s been fantastic for us.”
Potter, who has allowed veteran striker Glenn Murray to join Watford on loan, has not ruled out adding to his attacking options but is eager to elicit more from the forwards currently at his disposal.
“The likes of Neal Maupay, Aaron Connolly, Leo Trossard, Alireza ( Jahanbakhsh), if you look at their goals last year, you think they can improve those tallies,” added Potter.