Hakim Ziyech’s return to full fitness has been delayed by Chelsea’s failure to get the winger involved in enough practice games, Frank Lampard has revealed.
The Morocco international has recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of the start of the season.
It has seen him come on as a substitute in the draws against Southampton and Sevilla – but the 27-year-old is still to regain full match fitness.
Lampard and Chelsea’s medical staff were so eager for Ziyech to get minutes on the pitch that they supported him joining up with Morocco during the international break, where he played 30-plus minutes against Senegal before being cleared to make his club debut.
Lampard has revealed how Covid-19 restrictions have impacted on his recovery time.
“It’s very difficult,” said the Chelsea manager. “We have a bubble at Cobham. We cannot play against the under 23s or bring over a lot of kids to replicate 11v11 games on big-sized pitches, which is generally where you would want someone to work when they’ve not played for six months off the back of an injury.
“So we miss that. We just have to do the best we can, train as well as we can, find the right way to give Hakim minutes and others in the squad because a few signings did come in with different issues, and try to do that as quickly as we can. It’s a big challenge.
“Hakim has confidence about him, his fitness is coming, he still needs time to get his actual match fitness.”
Lampard has praised Ziyech’s attitude since joining from Ajax – and his leadership qualities.
“When I look at squad always want to help grow the idea of leaders in the group,” he added. “Personalities within the group. Over the course of long, difficult seasons when we play so many games there will be moments when you really rely on them to help you in tough times.
“I don’t think you can get on in any elite team sport without people with personality and character in your team. I’ve seen that in Hakim and I’ve seen that in Mendy, as soon as they came through the door.
“Both of those will be great additions on that front and I encourage personality, I encourage conversations between the players. We need more of them.”
