Lampard confirms contract talks with Chelsea talent Lamptey

Frank Lampard has revealed Chelsea are in talks with right-back Tariq Lamptey over a contract extension.

The 19-year-old made his Blues debut when he was brought on in the second-half of the 2-1 win over Arsenal on Sunday.

Lamptey has been with Chelsea since he joined the under-7 side and progressed through the youth academy, taking on a key role for the U23s this season.

The youngster’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires at the end of the season, but Lampard is confident he will remain at the club for a few more years.

“We’ll see. He’s talking with the club and hopefully he feels a bit of love from today as we’ve parachuted him in,” he told reporters when asked about the defender’s contract situation.

“He was actually on his Christmas break when we called him in yesterday. He trained and then played.

“I’d seen him when I was doing my coaching badges and you do a lot of hours with the academy and youth team. I saw him train a lot and I know he has a different dimension as a right-sided wing back.

“He has pace, low centre of gravity and can go by people. Of course he wants to work on his end product and all the last bits.”

Lampard says he asked his assistant manager Jody Morris, who has been coaching the Blues’ youth sides over the last five years, about the full-back after bringing him on to replace 22-year-old defender Fikayo Tomori.

He added: “My question to Jody when he came on was whether he had got the confidence and personality to deal with this, a tough game with responsibility to try and turn it. Jody said: ‘Yeah, no problem.’

Article continues below

“When he drove inside and slipped Tammy in I thought it was a great example of someone coming on and being fearless. Sometimes that’s what you get with youth.”

Lamptey is the seventh Chelsea youth academy graduate to make his debut for the Blues since Lampard took over at the helm in the summer.

Chelsea are in action again on New Year’s Day when they visit Brighton.