Lampard still hoping for January reinforcements in attack over anything else

With one week left in the January transfer window, Chelsea’s first since getting slapped with a transfer ban last year and one for which we worked hard to be able to actually conduct incoming business, looks to be ending without anything too drastic happening.

We signed a 16-year-old prospect and Olivier Giroud may yet leave (Inter move back on, claims Di Marzio), but otherwise it’s been all quiet on the transfer front.

That’s not to say there haven’t been plenty of rumors. Those cannot be stopped; the transfer ban barely slowed them down! But Chelsea’s targets are all either unavailable, overpriced, or both. It’s never easy to do business in January, especially the sort of business that’s not just a desperate panic band-aid useless for actually stopping the bleeding.

That said, we do still have one week, and Lampard is working closely with the higher-ups at the club (Granovskaia, Cech, etc) to see if anything can be done, especially in terms of attacking options to help fix our finishing woes — and especially after Tammy Abraham’s injury scare that will keep him out for at least a little while.

“The impetus to bring in a striker or players potentially that can get on the end of these chances we’re creating is there, and we have to be really honest about that. [...] When you’re creating 20 chances a game and not scoring enough goals that can be crucial.”

“[January] is not the ideal window, I think history’s proven that, albeit there have been some good signings in January for clubs that have made a difference both long-term and short-term.

“I think it’s about trying to get the choice right of the player that we can bring in considering what’s available.

”The club know, I’m saying pretty much the same thing every press conference, and the games are showing that, the club know my thoughts on that. So we’ll have to see at the time the window shuts.”

“[January’s] a month where as a manager your mind is always here first and foremost with what you have in front of you but you are striving to get the best. So it is a busy month for that.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

Alas, with neither Timo Werner nor Moussa Dembele nor Jadon Sancho nor [name your best favorite transfer target] wanting to move from their respective teams, and with Lampard ruling out a move for midfielder Boubakary Soumaré (whom the English media keep bringing up for some unknown reason), it’s looking like a not very busy month at all.