3 players Chelsea must look to sign in the January transfer window | Premier League 2019-20

The January transfer window is now upon us, and one Premier League side that look likely to spend some serious cash are Frank Lampard’s Chelsea.

The Blues currently sit in 4th place in the league table, but despite Lampard doing an excellent job at bringing academy talent into the first team, current reports suggest that with the club’s transfer ban now lifted, the club legend will be handed around £150m to attempt to bolster his squad.

Whether that’ll be enough money to bring in Lampard’s main targets is questionable, but if Chelsea really want to push for that all-important Champions League position, they’d be smart to sign the following 3 players.

#1 Jadon Sancho

Sancho has scored 11 goals thus far this season

Despite Willian being in excellent form as of late and young gun Callum Hudson-Odoi finally inking a new contract during the summer, Chelsea could still do with adding another dangerous wide-man to their ranks in January – largely as a long-term replacement for the ageing Pedro, who looks likely to depart Stamford Bridge in the near future.

Borussia Dortmund’s English teenage sensation Jadon Sancho would certainly fit the bill in every possible way. Despite being just 19 years old, he’s a proven commodity at the top level; he’s scored goals and registered assists in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League, and this season he’s been in incredible form, scoring 11 and making the same amount of assists in just 22 games.

More interestingly, he already has links with Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham – who was a childhood friend of Sancho – and has played with Blues stars like Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount and Reece James at England youth level.

The Blues would likely need to part with around £100m for Sancho – which is clearly a big fee – but if the teenager can live up to his massive potential, which he appears to be doing, then it’d probably be well worth it to bring him back to England. He could well prove to be the replacement for Eden Hazard that Chelsea have lacked this season.

#2 Nathan Ake

Nathan Ake would definitely help to tighten Chelsea's defence

Frank Lampard might’ve been willing to sell David Luiz to Arsenal in the summer – feeling that youngster Fikayo Tomori was more than capable of filling the gap left by the Brazilian in the Blues’ defence – but despite Tomori’s impressive performances, Chelsea’s back-line has still struggled at times during the current campaign.

Chelsea have conceded 29 goals this season – more than any of the other sides in the top five – and if they want to maintain their position and stay on course for a Champions League spot, then they need to tighten things up. One way of doing that would be to sign Nathan Ake – one of the Premier League’s most highly rated defenders – from Bournemouth.

There are a number of different reasons why signing the Dutchman would make sense; firstly, Chelsea sold Ake to the Cherries in 2017 and have a buy-back clause in his contract, meaning he’d be available for a relatively cheap £40m should the Blues wish to exercise their rights.

Secondly, he has superior statistics in a great majority of defensive areas to all of Chelsea’s current central defenders – Tomori, Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen. And at 24 years old, he’s not reached his prime yet and could even improve further.

Ake is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, but he’s expected to be back before the end of January – meaning this signing is practically a no-brainer for Frank Lampard’s side. Realistically, they should never have sold him in the first place.

#3 Timo Werner

Timo Werner has a ridiculous 23 goals in 24 games this season

One area that Chelsea haven’t struggled too much this year is finding the back of the net; the Blues have hit 36 in their 21 Premier League games, with striker Tammy Abraham establishing himself as one of the most dangerous hitmen in the division by plundering 12 goals.

With that said, Frank Lampard’s side have also looked worryingly toothless in the games they’ve played without Abraham in the side; Lampard has backup options, but Michy Batshuayi is simply too inconsistent to be considered a high-end Premier League striker, while Olivier Giroud is ageing and doesn’t appear to be trusted by the former club legend.

That’s why it’d be smart for the Blues to look to sign Timo Werner of RB Leipzig in the current transfer window. Leipzig – a fellow Champions League side – would probably be loathe to sell their star man, but reports suggest that he has a release clause of somewhere between £25m and £50m – and if that’s the case, there’d be little they could do should Chelsea make a move.

Werner has scored a ridiculous 23 goals in 24 games thus far this season – an even better return than Abraham although admittedly, he’s playing in a weaker league – but more intriguingly, he can play as a wide forward as well as through the middle, meaning Lampard could perhaps deploy him alongside his current top scorer.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it’s clear that some better competition for a starting berth could benefit Abraham, and Werner would definitely provide that. Chelsea need options up front and the German international would definitely work for them in that sense.