FRANK LAMPARD ‘has won the lottery’ having both Reece James and Ben Chilwell at Chelsea, according to Graeme Souness.
The Blues stormed from behind to beat Sheffield United 4-1 on Saturday, propelled by their marauding full-backs.
⚠️ Read our Chelsea live blog for the very latest news from the Bridge
Chelsea have ‘won the lottery’ with James and Chilwell both on their booksCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Chilwell scored to give Chelsea the lead in their 4-1 win over Sheff Utd on SaturdayCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Both Chilwell, 23, and James, still only 20, have been in exceptional form this season – and are arguably England’s first-choice full-backs.
And Souness reckons Lampard has got it made having the pair in his squad – for now and the future – despite splashing £50m to bring Chilwell in from Leicester in the summer.
Souness told Sky Sports: “When you buy a player for a lot of money, all the focus is on him.
“Ben Chilwell, they spent £50million on a full-back and all the focus is on him.
“In Reece James, he’s a top player. Given his age, he’s going to get better and better.
“I’ve not talked about his strength, his pace, his delivery, and in terms of defending he looks like he’s got that already.
“So you can only see him getting better and better.
“I asked Ash [Ashley Cole] off-air ‘how strong is he?’
“There’s an incident if you see the third goal where it’s a free kick by Ziyech out by the right-hand side and Max Lowe comes in, fouls him…
“So it is a foul, and there’s a bit of a coming together and he just rag-dolls him, pushes him like a little boy.”
Souness continued by claiming James is the ‘finished article’ – while stating how important full-backs are in the modern game.
The Sky Sports pundit said: “If you’re playing against this Liverpool team one of the priorities would be trying to stop Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“The full-back in the modern game isn’t a defender first and foremost…
“It’s someone who can do a bit of defending but gets up the pitch and when he gets into the attacking third he can deliver on it.
“When you get someone who can defend then what a real bonus that is.
“I think Reece James is all of that. I think he’s got absolutely everything in his game.
“So for Chelsea it looks like they’ve won the lottery in the full-back positions.
“He looks like the finished article already at 20.”
Callum Hudson-Odoi shows off skills as he trains with Chelsea
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
