How risky is Chelsea's big money transfer window for Lampard and his young break out stars?

Image proved trough the Premier League official website

It seems Chelsea are this year’s team to really splash out in the transfer window, with a reported £150 million transfer budget for Werner and Ziyech, plus potentially the likes of Chilwell or Havertz. Don't get me wrong; big name new signings joining Chelsea in theory is a great move for everyone. The potential new signings get to join a big team competing for Champions League, plus get to show their trade in the Premier League; and Chelsea gets first class players to help push for trophies.

So, what’s the issue? Well these are the potential issues; one issue is that new players joining could hinder the development of youth players.

A second issue that could arise, is it could also place Lampard under more pressure than any he had to face so far. This I will explain further later on.

More signings lead to more competition for places and this can affect the development of youth players. It could hinder the development of the likes of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount, with Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech coming in for example. The Chelsea fans have loved seeing youth players from the academy come through and it has felt like a breath of fresh air. They don't want to see the next Gael Kakuta, Josh McEachran or Patrick Bamford - players destined for greatness at Chelsea – never getting the player time they want and ending up in lower leagues as result of a lack of game time at younger ages. All the years of failed potential coming out of the academy. All the ‘what if's’ fans have had over what and who could have been. Great youth players who could have come out of Chelsea and played for the first team regularly. The last true great Chelsea player to come out of the academy was clearly John Terry. No debate is needed there. The fans this season have already been given a peek at their potential next great youth players preparing to play in the first team. No big signing can truly have the same influence as a youth player on the fans, ‘one of their own’.

Image provided through the Evening Standard

This leads to the second point. Frank Lampard will not be given as much time to make a team of quality players gel to win trophies. A team containing youth however would be given time, a further one or two seasons, to allow a team containing academy players to gel. Don't they want the next Manchester class of '92? A team that fans could connect with even more.

Image provided through the Premier League official website

I've given my concerns for the arrival of potential new players to Chelsea; so… are Lampard and Chelsea doing the right thing buying potentially £150 million worth of new players this summer, the likes of Werner and Ziyech? Well... yes. As much as Chelsea need youth to make up for years of hyped ‘almost’ potential… they also need world class players. And even though I've said potentially youth can be hindered, that’s all it is, potential. In reality hopefully Werner will play on the wing, which would affect Willian and Pedro's positions more; older players, whose time at Chelsea is near its end. This is more likely than any youth player being affected. Not once have I spoken about youth being affected in the left back position for the potential arrival of someone like Chilwell. Well that’s because no academy player is in that position. That’s a role Alonso or Emerson have, players which the fans already feel can be lacklustre occasionally. As the arrival of a fresh left back is exciting and really is needed. The players being linked are most likely going to replace older Chelsea players, or ones that just cannot cut it anymore for a club as big as Chelsea. And Lampard has a far greater chance therefore of winning trophies. Also, Lampard will be given more chance then previous mangers, not just for bleeding though youth, but also for his legendary stature at the club already. Lastly, bleeding through youth players does not always lead to success, and as much as fans want youth coming through, the aim needs to primarily be for success. Especially for a big club like Chelsea. Just look at the failed academy team Wenger tried building his Arsenal squad around in the 2010s, this shows that promoting youth can be a tricky job, especially if success is the main criteria.

For Lampard to keep his job at Chelsea he should always know Academy is important to Chelsea fans but success is vital and introducing big new signings usually gets a club to success faster.