During his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard has been praised for integrating many academy graduates into the first team, giving opportunities to the likes of Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori, Billy Gilmour, Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James.
In the past year, five of the youngsters have penned new long-term contracts with the club, with Abraham being the only exception.
In November last year, Abraham netted his tenth league goal of the season in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge. However, since that game, Abraham has only been able to find the net a further three times in the Premier League.
In the build-up to the Blues’ trip to Selhurst Park, Lampard spoke on how Abraham’s focus should be on returning to goalscoring form and not on a new deal.
'He just needs to focus on giving us that Tammy we had earlier in the season'
Despite it now being 178 days since Abraham last found the back of the net, he remains the club's top scorer this season with 13 goals.
Lampard insisted the forward, who still has two years remaining on his current deal, must solely focus on returning to the kind of form which saw him score ten goals in the opening 12 games this season.
“We are not at a critical level with Tammy’s contract, and I will leave that between him and the club to discuss,” he explained.
“If it is in his mind now then it shouldn’t be. What needs to be in his mind now is these games coming up and how much he can give us, whether he comes on as a sub or is starting games because he has had a really good season.
“He has not scored so much in the second half of the season and as a young player, it is always clear that when you have these periods there is only one way out of it and that is work, and repetition in training, and every moment you get trying to make the most out of it.
“The contract will hopefully look after itself between him and the club and he just needs to focus on giving us that Tammy we had earlier in the season, which was giving defenders so much of a problem in games and scoring regularly.”
'There is competition'
Whilst Lampard’s youngsters have received most of the plaudits this season, since football returned strong performances from more experienced players like Olivier Giroud and Willian have kept players like Abraham and Hudson-Odoi out of the team.
Giroud and Willian have recorded six goals and an assist since the restart between them, with the latter potentially looking to earn himself a new contract.
Lampard made it clear that his younger players are not always guaranteed starters and that they will go through periods of not being selected.
“We get very excited about young talent and rightly so, but it is pretty hard to come into this Premier League with the level that it is at and sustain performance or be in the starting 11 all the time.
“There is competition, games are hard, so whether it is Tammy, Mason, Fikayo, Reece, they have had periods of real input, playing regularly, and periods when they have not quite so much, in their own ways. That is something we all have to be calm with from the outside and can all sort of expect that, but the main thing from me working behind the scenes with them all is that they understand they will have those little moments and not lose confidence.
“I am always there to support them on that one. But also they need to continue the work and never think they have it cracked. That is a message for all young players, not just mine, because I have been there, I know how hard it is to break through and once you break through, it is possibly harder to sustain it and move onto the different level which top players do, sustaining great performances for years.
‘So all these younger players here potentially have it. A lot of it is in their hands at this point."