Reports: Chelsea manager Frank Lampard played a surprise role in Juventus’ 'capture' of Federico Chiesa
Juventus had to strive hard to get their hands on Federico Chiesa this summer, but if reports are to be believed, they had help in this regard from the most unusual of places – Frank Lampard.
The Italian giants had tracked Chiesa for a long time as they believed that he was an ideal player in new manager Andrea Pirlo's playing philosophy.
Chiesa had turned on the heat in style at Fiorentina in recent years, attracting attention from Premier clubs and from around Europe in the process. The Italian scored 11 goals from 37 appearances last season and had already scored a goal in three games for La Viola this term when the Biaconeri came calling.
The player has reportedly signed an initial 2-year loan deal worth €10m with Juventus, with the Italian giants having an obligation to buy Chiesa for €50m.
It has now appeared that Chelsea manager Frank Lampard might have played a significant role in Chiesa signing up with Juventus.
Frank Lampard’s refusal to offload Callum Hudson-Odoi helped Juventus land Chiesa
Juventus were desperate to add Federico Chiesa to their kitty but needed to offload a player to make space in their squad.
The Serie A champions were looking to jettison Brazilian winger Douglas Costa who has fallen down the pecking order under Pirlo and is no longer considered indispensable to the Bianconeri cause.
There was a possibility of the Brazilian joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, but Douglas Costa was apparently not interested in making the move as he desired to join a bigger club.
The Brazilian eventually completed a loan deal to Bayern Munich. However, that move only materialised because the Bavarians failed in their pursuit of their top target - Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi. The German giants were interested in bringing the Englishman to the Bundesliga, but Lampard refused to sanction the move.
That forced Bayern Munich to look elsewhere, and the Bavarian giants ended up signing Douglas Costa who had previously spent two seasons with them where he scored 14 goals from 77 appearances before joining Juventus.
The Old Lady turned out to be the ultimate winners in the whole melee. They managed to offload the Brazilian which opened up space in their squad for Chiesa.
The Italian will now be looking to make a mark in Turin and ensure that he performs well enough to turn his loan deal permanent. If he manages to be a hit under Pirlo, Juventus will have Lampard to thank for that.