Frank Lampard says Chelsea would have loaned Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori if not for their transfer ban

Frank Lampard says Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori would have gone out on loan again were it not for Chelsea’s transfer embargo.

Chelsea were banned by Fifa in June 2019 from registering players for two consecutive transfer windows for 29 incidences of breaching article 19, which relates to the transfer of players aged under 18.

The ban would be reduced by December, but not before Lampard’s appointment as manager at the start of July. The summer window had been closed for the then new boss.

“Would Mason have gone on loan again this year? Possibly. Probably,” Lampard told cousin Jamie Redknapp in an interview for the Daily Mail. “Tomori definitely would. It was my decision to keep Tomori because I'd worked with him at Derby and loved his attitude.

“I don't have to play Tammy — he has to show me why, of our three strikers, he deserves it.

The ban forced my hand slightly but I knew the fans wanted to see young players. I knew how much the academy put into these players.

“I'm not even talking about Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne — you mention them and you get an absolute headline. But there have been other academy players over the last 10 years who might have come through quicker.

“The sweat, the tears, the hours that go into those prospects. Neil Bath and Jim Fraser, who have run the academy for years, put so much into it.

“The day we beat Wolves 5-2, Tomori got the first, Tammy scores three, then Mason scores. You want to ring them up and go, "Can we have a few pints tonight, lads?"”