Christian Pulisic can be Chelsea’s Mo Salah or Sadio Mane, insists delighted Frank Lampard

FRANK LAMPARD has challenged Christian Pulisic to be Chelsea’s answer to title-winning Liverpool wingers Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.

Pulisic, 21, underlined his potential by scoring in each of the Blues’ two wins since the Premier League resumed.

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And Chelsea boss Lampard believes the USA international should aim to emulate superstar widemen like Golden Boot winners Salah and Mane, and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling.

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Lampard said: “He has the ability to match the Raheem Sterling's, who are now producing numbers from wide areas, and Mo Salah's and Mane’s.

“It’s important he understands what is needed to do that because he certainly has the talent to do that.
"He needs to try to get to that sort of level.

“I’m delighted to have him at the minute. He works very hard every day and he has to set his sights as high as he possibly can.

“Because he broke through at such a young age in Germany and moves to us and it’s a big move, obviously people’s expectations rise.

"But we have to take his age into consideration.

“But there’s no doubt his quality — we can see that — and he is very keen to improve and work, and particularly happy at the minute because he missed some time with injury.

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“And if he wants to learn — and he does — he can do that on the training pitch in how he sees the game and when he looks at players around him, who have made that sort of jump.”

It was Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp who helped kickstart Pulisic’s career by promoting him to Borussia Dortmund’s first-team squad when he was still only 16.

Lampard’s task now is to continue the development of the player and his team as they attempt to close the gap on the Premier League’s runaway champions.

As a player at Stamford Bridge, Lampard learned how winning a first trophy can change a club’s culture.

Lifting the League Cup in 2005 under Jose Mourinho was the start of more than a decade of success for the Blues and this season’s FA Cup provides a similar opportunity for Lampard the manager.

The Chelsea head coach said: “It was very important at the time because we were a team of not many winners.

We’re fortunate to have a few players fit that weren’t so much before lockdown and I’ll be wanting something from pretty much everyone in the squad

Frank Lampard

“We didn’t have too many titles between us and it was a relatively young team.

“Jose brought that mentality to us that winning the first trophy really helps you to push on.

"In our team we do have a mixture of players who have been here and won a lot, plus some younger players that haven’t done that.

“Myself as a manager I haven’t, but I recognise the importance of that. That’s what we’re here for, to win things at a club like Chelsea.

“It doesn’t fall short of me, the FA Cup is something we’re going to give everything to.”

Everything, that is, within reason.

The games are coming thick and fast since football restarted and this afternoon’s clash with Leicester, after both league games ended in draws, will provide Lampard’s team with another stiff test.

The 2-1 victory over Manchester City that handed Liverpool the title on Thursday gave the Blues a boost in the race for Champions League qualification.

Lampard adds: “We’re in a year of slight transition and the big focus is always the league, of course.

“But when it comes to Chelsea, no matter what, you want to try to win — and when you get to the quarter-final, you want to try to get to Wembley and you want to try to win it.

“It will be a difficult game against Leicester because we know the qualities they have, but we have to focus on trying to go as far as we can.

“We’re fortunate to have a few players fit that weren’t so much before lockdown and I’ll be wanting something from pretty much everyone in the squad.

“It’s important that the players who are not starting stay fit and fresh because we’re going to need everyone we’ve got.”