Costa hard to replace at Chelsea, says Lampard

PREMIER League champions Chelsea will find it difficult to replace influential striker Diego Costa if he departs in the current transfer window, club legend Frank Lampard has said.

Costa, 28, has been Chelsea’s top scorer in all three seasons since joining the club in 2014, leading them to two league title wins.

Earlier this month, the Spain international said he would leave Stamford Bridge after being told by manager Antonio Conte that he was not a part of the club’s future plans.

“He’s a fantastic striker and we all saw that last season and since he’s been at Chelsea. He would be very difficult to replace, there’s no doubt about it,” Lampard told Sky Sports.

“He’s an all-round physical presence that also has the quality to get goals, that’s not easy to find.”

Costa scored 22 goals in 42 appearances for the London side last season but the club have been linked with a move to get Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, who scored 26 goals last campaign, back to Stamford Bridge.

“He’s (Lukaku) certainly developed to a huge degree since he left the club (in 2014), Romelu would certainly be a good option. The only thing Chelsea have to look at is the inflated market that is around now, it makes it very tough,” Lampard said.

Costa has said he would favour a return to former club Atletico Madrid but the Spanish side are unable to register new players until January 2018 due to a transfer ban.

Swansea manager Paul Clement hopes that having a full pre-season with his side will help them start the new campaign strongly and avoid another relegation scrap.

Clement joined Swansea in January, when they were bottom of the table, and led them out of the relegation zone with the team collecting 26 points from 18 games to finish 15th.

“Every game is important and we want a good tally by the halfway point so we can avoid this pressure and suffering we have had in the second half of last season,” Clement said.

“Pre-season will be important in that... We did not have time to do that in January because the pressure was on and it was so hectic. This gives us a less pressurised environment in which to do all those things.”

Clement also said that his team could reach Europe if they performed as well as they did in the latter half of last season.

“We need to build and get better, build on what we have done. Twenty six points in half a season is impressive, do that over a season and you bang on the door of Europe.” –Reuters