Frank Lampard dashed Chelsea’s hopes of signing Anthony Gordon by claiming that the deadline to sign the winger had passed after another top scorer bid.
Gordon has been strongly linked with a £60m move to Chelsea and the 21-year-old scored for the second game in a row in Everton’s 1-1 draw with Leeds.
Speaking after the match, Lampard told reporters that he was confident of retaining his outstanding young player and that it was too late to sell the player.
“Anthony is a very important player,” Lampard said. “He’s shown his value in the last two games. He’s going to be special. In the bigger picture, he has a bond with the fans. It’s a process, can we build around that?”
“The interest in him is because he is a great player and why are we so keen to keep him. I have seen the reasons why we feel him so much in the last two games. He is our player, he has come through with a very good player and he is going to get better and better.
“You don’t have to worry about it anymore, there are only a few days left. I’ve seen the value of this club.
“I have always told him since I joined this club that I thought there were more goals in him because he has everything, his demeanor, ability, pace and a great finish now. This will give him confidence to continue.
“I’m very confident he’ll be our player. The deadline for a decision to sell him has passed. What’s the point of doing anything with Anthony now?”
What is Chelsea doing now?
Meanwhile, Chelsea suffered their second defeat in three matches in a 2-1 loss to Southampton as their need for a top scorer swelled.
Thomas Tuchel opted to switch from a three-man defense to a four-man defense in hopes of introducing more quality up front, but despite Raheem Sterling’s opener, the Blues looked toothless going forward.
Kai Havertz has started again up front and the German now has just one goal in his last 13 games as Chelsea approach the deadline in a desperate attempt to bolster their attack.
“You don’t have to worry about Gordon in the last two days of the transfer window now.” – Frank Lampard pic.twitter.com/2vtAxxLGM9
– 𝗧𝗵 𝗧𝗵 𝗧 𝗳𝗳 𝗲 𝘂 (EvertonNewsFeed) August 30 2022
The club are set to complete the signing of Wesley Fofana from Leicester for a fee of around £80m, while they are said to be in advanced talks to sign Jusko Gvardiol next summer for £77m from Leipzig.
However, the most pressing issue is undoubtedly up front and it seems likely that Chelsea will go ahead with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s move, having spent the past few weeks haggling over fees.
The Gordon deal appears to be dead now and Tuchel may regret the club’s inability to secure the player early in the window after his bright start to the season.
