Chelsea manager Frank Lampard is all eyes on Wigan Athletic Joe Gelhardt and is said to be leading the hunt. The 17-year-old Gelhardt is considered to be the hottest young prospect outside the Premier League.
The youngster made his debut last season. Gelhardt found the back of the net 12 times in 15 appearances for the England Under-17.
The wonderkid has yet to make his first start for the Latics but managed to score his first goal against Hull City two weeks earlier in a game where scouts gathered to see him in action.
The young prospect is under contract for the Latics for another two years. And with all eyes set on Gelhardt, this could only mean that his current club will try to keep and resist all temptation to sell him but could be left with little option.
One club is seen to be very keen on taking the Gelhardt back to his native Liverpool, Everton. However, the Blues are not taking this one easily as Lampard who is now known to have put his faith on youngsters this season sits on top of the position.
The Chelsea boss earned the reputation when he was with Derby County last season. He was giving youngsters then a chance to prove themselves. This continued with Chelsea as the Premier League club was slapped with a two summer transfer ban. Chelsea had made an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. And if things don’t go as planned, Lampard may have to wait until the right time to sign Gelhardt comes.
The Blues defeated Brighton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge Saturday. This is the club’s first win at home this season. Lampard said that he is relieved to finally win and got the three points in front of the home crowd. He said that he had been waiting for this win and that day finally came.
“The reason we had not won at home was because we had not put a together a 90 minutes at home to win a game. We have put together parts of games; half against Leicester, half against Sheffield United.
“A good performance against Liverpool but wasn’t quite enough.
“Today we put in a good performance, it was solid, it was comfortable, it was professional, it lacked more goals because we created enough to score three, four, five goals.
“But we got our clean sheet which is something we’ve been striving for, so it’s a good day all round and good for confidence in the dressing room.
“The home games have been frustrating so far for different reasons.
“Not that we’ve played terribly, it just hasn’t happened for us. Today was a nice one, you could have almost felt the frustration at half-time and not because we had a poor half or the ball hadn’t gone in the back of the net.
“We controlled every bit of the game and so now hopefully that gives everybody confidence.”
