Lampard reveals how he got inside Chelsea star Willian’s head to reignite the Brazilian’s fortunes
FRANK LAMPARD has rekindled Willian’s love affair with Chelsea to get the best out of his Brazilian star.
And the Blues boss was rewarded last Sunday with two goals from the winger he desperately wants to keep beyond next summer.
Willian, 31, is in talks to extend his contract and has openly declared his loyalty to Chelsea after almost 200 games in more than six years.
Lampard said: “I knew he had that talent before I got the job.
“But the last year or two I have looked at him from afar and wasn’t sure how much he was enjoying it.
“A bit of body language, in and out sometimes. My feeling at the start of the season was to get into his head, tell him how much I feel about him and how I see him.
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“Get him fit, get him working off the ball because I know he can.
“He has this incredible ability to burst away from people. If there was one thing I wanted from him at the start of the season it was a question of can you score more goals? Because your talent says you should do.
“When the other options are younger, experience certainly helps.
“All his team-mates love him, he is a low maintenance player and I am really happy with him.”
Willian has publicly rejected advances from Barcelona but recently revealed Chelsea had yet to offer him the new deal he so wanted.
His influence is stronger than ever on the younger players around him and that will be as valuable as ever when Chelsea host Southampton today bidding to overcome wobbly form at home.
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Lampard is trying to work out a solution to his team’s inconsistencies.
He added: “There are a lot of demands on teams and individuals to keep reproducing a high, high level of performance.
“I think inconsistency will always be there. It’s just you fight to make it as minimal as it can be.”