Gordon transfer blocked: Lampard still Chelsea's hero

FT Desk

27 Aug 2022 05:23 CDT
3 min read

Frank Lampard scored more than 200 goals for Chelsea, and he could be set to help his former employers once again by blocking Anthony Gordon's £60 million transfer to the Blues from Everton.

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Chelsea have been linked with a blockbuster bid for the England under-21 winger, and the move was reportedly close whether or not Chelsea included either Conor Gallagher or Armando Broja as a makeweight.

But speaking ahead of Everton's meeting with Brentford on Saturday, manager Lampard suggested that that particular ship had sailed.

"It is absolutely not happening at this point and that is where we are at," he said. "The situation we are in [now is that] Anthony is not leaving this club.

Chelsea are prepared to pay up to £60m for Anthony Gordon.

Our value? €23m 💸https://t.co/6jnkmUwR6c
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 23, 2022

"There absolutely has to come a time where we have to understand what the squad is going to be and especially a player of the level of Anthony, I have to know he is going be here. We are at that situation. We have drawn a red line.

Lampard: club bosses think the same

"It is very difficult, I got asked last week, will he be here at the end of the window, and it is an impossible question to answer, really.

"But I am working now to try and put a squad together and it is my job to get the best squad so there absolutely has to come a time where we have to understand what the squad is going to be and, especially a player of the level of Anthony, I have to know he is going to be here and the good thing is here at the club, myself and everybody involved upstairs has the same kind of thinking so there will be no doubts on that front."

Lampard's words should be music to Chelsea fans' ears. Not that Gordon is a bad player - far from it - but having only scored four senior goals with 63 games with Everton, he can only dream of the kind of attacking returns Lampard used to get, for the moment.

And £60 million would see Chelsea spending more on Gordon than they did on any of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella this summer.

With Manchester United offering competition for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's signature, the money saved on Gordon might be better spent on Barcelona's former Arsenal man.