Lampard tips Werner to have 'big impact' at Chelsea | OneFootball

Frank Lampard is excited about the prospect of having Timo Werner at Chelsea after holding positive talks with the forward ahead of his arrival at Stamford Bridge.

Werner will join the Premier League club after concluding the Bundesliga season with RB Leipzig, with the Blues reportedly paying £47.5million (€53m) to land the Germany international.

Having been linked with Chelsea's domestic rivals Liverpool, Lampard is pleased to be adding a player of such pedigree to his squad, tipping the 24-year-old to have a "big impact" once he has settled in to his new surroundings.

"I had good conversations with Timo personally, he understands what I want to do here at the club, how we work, how we play," Lampard told the media ahead of Sunday's trip to Aston Villa.

"It came across as a really exciting project for him, he obviously had some very good options. We are happy with that and we are just pleased Timo decided to come to us.

"I'm certainly excited to have him here. We must hold our breath slightly because we have business in hand, as does he in finishing their league, but we have spoken to him.

"He's the type of player and profile we are looking at - he can come here and have a big impact hopefully.

"We'll have to give him a bit of time for adapting, as the Premier League is a slightly different animal to all other leagues in world football, but the talent Timo has - the work ethic, personality and humility shone through when speaking to him - so I'm really looking forward to having him here in all senses."

Chelsea did not add any new faces in the previous off-season due to a transfer ban handed down by FIFA for breaching rules on signing young players. While the suspension was reduced down to just the one window on appeal, they still opted not to bring in any new faces in January.

Werner, however, is the second new recruit sealed ahead of the 2020-21 campaign, following on from the signing of Hakim Ziyech from Ajax.

"I certainly followed him individually just as a talented player, even before I had this job," Lampard said of Werner, who has scored 26 league goals in 32 games for RB Leipzig this season.

"As a club, we went for him and he will certainly strengthen us in my opinion, he has huge talent and is having a fantastic season, but also before that as well.

"Where we couldn't do as much business in the last windows, it has given us a chance to have more youth in the team, but we were very clear we wanted to improve.

"Timo Werner is a signing that will improve us and I'm excited to have him playing for Chelsea. We have games to encounter now to try and finish this season well, but we look forward to having him next season."

Chelsea may not be finished there in terms of transfers either, though Lampard refused to be drawn on rumours linking them to Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell.

"I'm not going to even speak about Chilwell, or any other players out of respect," he said.

"We are focused on our matches, every other Premier League team is the same, so I won't get involved in any talk about the future."