Lampard confirms Mendy medical, again, plays coy on Loftus-Cheek, Rüdiger, again

Actual football is often just a sideshow in football. Many questions after Chelsea’s 6-0 beatdown of Barnsley on Wednesday night centered on a trio of missing players. Two of those are Chelsea players and the third, well, he’s been confirmed as signed and sealed for what seems like eons by now.

Waiting on official news regarding Édouard Mendy seems to be meme of this transfer window. If you’re still wondering who this unconfirmed player is still, I envy you. I long to live in a world not waiting with bated breath on a new goalkeeper.

Life may perhaps be more simpler not knowing incoming competition for Kepa Arrizabalaga would take so long. On the other hand, it is reassuring to know that Chelsea are actively working on improving the goalkeeping department.

All reports claim that a deal has been agreed, yet official word has been lacking for far too long. It’s a stark difference to the quickness of the deals this year, especially with the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, and Thiago Silva. Even Lampard is still stopping short of actually confirming things.

“The medical I think is done and complete. I want to be a bit careful with that. I don’t want to give absolute confirmation, but possibly over the next 24 hours. It seems like one which is done.”

Two other players missing from today’s squad were Antonio Rüdiger and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Rüdiger has yet to feature for Chelsesa this season, while Loftus-Cheek’s only appearance came in the season opener against Brighton, and it wasn’t exactly optimal, raising more questions than answers about his future.

Meanwhile, Rüdiger has become primed for a David Luiz-esque exit recently. With five central defenders in the squad, Rüdiger looks to be the one surplus to requirements, especially as he considers squad selection for next summer’s European Championships..

With plenty of squad depth at their positions, it would make sense for both Rüdiger and Loftus-Cheek to seek out a loan move for game time. That’s all just rumors at this point of course, but Lampard certainly wasn’t denying the possibility.

“The situation with both is that they weren’t in the squad. I had a similar answer from the other day, they just weren’t in the squad. That is just a choice at the moment.

“Again with the centre-halves I can’t have them all in the squad. I keep getting asked about the size of the squad. There might be movement, we know that, but nothing is concrete so don’t read too much into those selections at the minute. It will have to be things which are right for the club and individuals and me and in terms of what happens in the next couple of weeks.”

- Frank Lampard, source: Football.London

There are less than two weeks left in the transfer window, so any new transfers will need to work at a pace much, much faster than Mendy’s.