Chelsea have ‘long way to go’ to match Ajax’s academy success, says Lampard
Frank Lampard believes Chelsea are a long way from matching the longterm success of Ajax’s academy and has said that he is not getting carried away with his young side’s performances this season.
Ajax have a proud tradition of producing homegrown talents and the Dutch champions came within a whisker of reaching last season’s Champions League final, only to lose to Tottenham in the last four. However Erik ten Hag’s side have bounced back after selling Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt in the summer and sit top of Group H before hosting Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
Lampard has given youth a chance since taking over at Stamford Bridge, with Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori all catching the eye, but he feels Chelsea’s academy is not yet at the same level as Ajax’s.
“We’ve got a long way to go to claim the similarities,” Chelsea’s manager said. “We shouldn’t get carried away with ourselves. It’s great we have a good feeling at the club, in terms of the young players that have come through. I think it’s long-deserved recognition for the academy itself and those players. But we are at a place that is steeped in history of creating great teams with groups of young players over the years. We have a long way to go to do that. But in the short term I’m certainly happy.”
This promises to be a tough test for
Chelsea, who are second in the group after earning three points from their first two games. Ross Barkley, Andreas Christensen, N’Golo Kanté and Antonio Rüdiger are out against the group leaders, who opened their European campaign with thumping wins over Valencia and Lille. But Lampard wants his young side to push themselves.
“I aim to give them confidence because I believe in them,” he said. “What Ajax did last year was incredible. With us, I think you see my belief in them because even though everyone says we had a transfer ban and it’s the only option I have, that’s not true.
“The young players have shown it. But we mustn’t get carried away with thinking that’s the end of the story. It’s a nice story until now but success in the longer term is what we have to work for. I keep saying it is just the beginning of the road but I feel like by having belief in them, they can feel that back. I also need to be strong in driving them to get better all the time.”
Like Ajax, Chelsea have installed former players in important positions in recent years. Petr Cech was appointed as the club’s technical and performance adviser in the summer, Ashley Cole is coaching the under-15s and Carlo Cudicini, Tore André Flo, Claude Makelele and Paulo Ferreira hold influential roles. “With ex-players, you would hope there is a feeling for the club, a feeling from the fans who like to see players who care about their careers at the club,” Lampard said. “You can try and continue with an idea or an ethos, which is where teams like Ajax and Bayern Munich get it so right because it doesn’t change on short-term results. It tends to stay for the longer term.
“Also with ex-players, it is a great thing for the club but they should be there on merit. I should be manager of
this club on merit because I want to work hard, be successful and help improve the club. So should everybody. Petr Cech has a work ethic to be the best he can be every day.”
Tomori revealed that Gareth Southgate
and the Football Association have offered England’s players counselling following last week’s racist abuse in Bulgaria. “Obviously it was a difficult experience,” the centre-back said. “What we wanted to do was just play our football, to win the game. That’s what we did. When stuff like that happens you have to try and block it out even though it is so blatant.
“We just wanted to go out there, play our game and win. The manager spoke to us after and said there was help there if needed. It’s just one of those things that happened. The whole set up of the FA and the manager and the people around us made it clear that if we need to [seek help] we can. We have good staff and teammates around us to talk to if we need to.”
Tomori added that English football must also tackle its racism problem after the alleged abuse at Haringey Borough’s FA Cup tie against Yeovil Town last Saturday. “Racism, wherever it is, is not a laughing matter and is something that needs to be kicked out of the game,” he said. “It’s a gradual process. It’s not going to stop overnight and we just have to keep on drumming it into people that it’s not acceptable.”