interim boss has confirmed that defender has suffered a significant hamstring injury and will miss ‘months rather than weeks’.
The 22-year-old, who moved to Stamford Bridge from Monaco in a £35million deal in January, has impressed in his 11 appearances for the club so far and is expected to feature prominently in the plans of incoming head coach .
Chelsea have not put a timeframe on Badiashile’s recovery but said he would be sidelined for an ‘extended period’ and there were .
Lampard has declined to go into detail on the nature of the injury, but he is hopeful the Frenchman will not miss too many matches – though did concede it is a ‘complicated’ injury.
Asked for a timeframe on his recovery, and how big a blow it is, Lampard replied: ‘It’s a big blow for him, I’m really disappointed for him because he’s come here and I think he’s impressed.
‘The games just before he got injured I was very happy with him and I think he’s going to be a really good player for the club.
‘But the injury is unfortunate. It’s a bit of a complicated injury in his hamstring and we’re probably talking months rather than weeks, unfortunately.
‘And that’s all I’ll say at the minute, because it’s a little bit complicated as I say.
‘But I hope, for him, that the timing of it over the summer means he’s not missing games and he comes back stronger.’
Chelsea have two more matches before the curtain finally falls on a miserable season – away to Manchester United on Thursday and then home to Newcastle on Sunday – and Lampard has urged his underperforming players to finish in a professional manner.
Asked what he wants to see from the squad in the final days of the campaign, Lampard replied: ‘The usual requirements and the basics, which I’ve spoken about a lot since I’ve been here.
‘And they’re not easy to switch on, you have to train and prepare and it has be a standard that you set. And unfortunately we haven’t met that standard this season regularly enough. In my time here the one thing I can say is I’ve seen probably some reasons why.
‘But in the short-term, for the two games that are left now in three days, the players have to reach the standard and level of performance. I think we did at Manchester City, to be fair, not an easy game for the players to approach because of what was going on their end, but I thought we approached it [well] and deserved more out of the game.
‘The performance I could say, yes, lots to improve, but the attitude and the application and all the basics were good and right and that’s what I expect to see in the last two games.’
, .
, and .
