Frank Lampard needs to significantly improve his Chelsea team this season to avoid being sacked, claimed Tony Cascarino.

Club owner Roman Abramovich deployed huge sums of money to strengthen the team in order to challenge Liverpool and Manchester City for the Premier League title this season.

The club have signed Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Tiago Siva, Ben Chilwell, Malang Sarr, and are on the verge of acquiring the services of one of the best players in Europe, Kai Havertz for an humongous fee.

Speaking to talkSport, the former Blues player, Cascarino, said: “Frank will be fully aware that him getting that investment means there’s a different challenge now.

“He will know the expectation won’t just be qualifying for Champions League football.

“That was the expectation last summer, and if they managed it with a transfer embargo then it’s a bonus.”

Before he added: “That brings more pressure and Frank will know that, but if he doesn’t reach their expectations and goals then he’s not going to be manager of Chelsea next year.”

Chlesea are reportedly closing in on the signing of Ajax starlet Amourricho van Axel Dongen.

The Telegraph claims Chelsea lead Man Utd and City in the race for the 15-year-old winger.

The Dutchman has represented his country three times at Under-16 level – scoring once.

And he has already debuted for Ajax’s Under-18 side – three years above his age group.

Van Axel Dongen has been more of a regular in the Under-17 side, however, scoring seven goals in nine games from left wing.

The wide player has also captained the development side.

Photo Credit: Twitter @ ChelseaFC

Reports in Spain state that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is in Barcelona and has been for some days.

According to Sky Sports, the Spaniard is holidaying and visiting his close family.

It’s understood he will return to the UK after the weekend to begin two weeks self isolation, which is current UK government policy for travellers returning to England from Spain.

Manchester City’s first game of the new season is away at Wolves in three weeks time.

Barcelona are reportedly resolute in their desire to keep their Lionel Messi, taking a number of far-reaching decisions, which include rejection of the star’s demand for a meeting and sacking of their law firm Cuatrecasas for advising him on an exit strategy for leaving the club.

Reports in Spain have said Messi wants to meet the Barcelona board to discuss an amicable exit from the club, with the player intent on leaving this summer.

Barcelona will not accept a request from Lionel Messi to hold a meeting with the club to discuss his exit and they will only sanction his exit for his €700m release clause, claims Guillem Balague.

In another development, Marca which cites an initial report from Crónica Global, which claims that Cuatrecasas advised the Argentine on sending his burofax to the club earlier this week outlining his intentions to leave.

The law firm are said to be both representatives of the player and the club, as they had been hired to advise both on how best to proceed with any legal cases, such as the dispute currently surrounding the player’s contract and whether or not he is able to terminate his current deal.

The 33-year-old has a clause in his deal allowing him to leave at the end of any season, and whilst it was thought that deadline passed in June, Marca have reported his camp believe that it has been extended in line with the prolonged 2019/20 season.

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the current board of the Catalan giants are said to be insistent they will not allow their superstar to leave as a free agent and they will only be prepared to meet with the player to discuss a new contract.

Chelsea fired a warning to the rest of the Women’s Super League with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Manchester City at Wembley.

A stunning long-range goal from England defender Millie Bright and a late finish by substitute Erin Cuthbert give Chelsea victory over Manchester City in the first Women’s Community Shield.

This was the first-time since 2008 that the domestic season started with the traditional curtain-raiser between the league champions and FA Cup holders, although with last season’s FA Cup still to be finished, 2019 winners City stepped up to face Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.

They certainly played their part in what was largely an even contest, although one which largely remained goalless after a series of missed chances. Sam Kerr had several opportunities, most of them in a first half in which Manchester City also hit the post as it somehow remained 0-0 at the break.

Both sides continued to spurn chances early in the second half, but the dismissal of Jill Scott for a second bookable offence allowed Chelsea to take control of the game and the decisive moment came just a few minutes after the England international’s red card.

Bright was the scorer, striding forward from defence to take a pass from Ji So-Yun in her stride, before unleashing a ferocious strike from distance that flew into the top corner. The centre-half and her team-mates jubilantly celebrated another Wembley wondergoal, following the three spectacular efforts on the Blues last appearance at the ground for the 2018 FA Cup final.

Substitute Cuthbert put the seal on the win with a fine finish in stoppage time after the ball fell invitingly for her and it was now clear the Blues would be lifting their eighth silverware of Emma Hayes’s eight-year reign.

Photo Credit: Twitter @ChelseaFC

Dani Ceballos reportedly wants a move to Real Betis, despite Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believing he wants to stay at the Emirates.

The midfielder, who spent last season at the Emirates on loan at Real Madrid, has recently returned to Spain, but is clearly still following events at Arsenal closely.

Just minutes after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted the decisive penalty in the shootout, Ceballos shared a video of his reaction to the victory while watching the game on a laptop.

Despite the 24-year-old reportedly telling his parent club that he’d like to join Real Betis, Arteta believes that he’d rather stay with the North London outfit.

He said: “Well, we have had some talks and Dani knows really well what I think about him.

“He was pretty clear with me as well that his intention was to remain with us, but obviously Real Madrid is involved and I don’t know yet what they want to do with the player.

“But he’s a player that we are interested in because we really saw, in the last few months of the season, what he is capable of bringing to us.”

Chelsea got their pre-season campaign under way with a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion, and Timo Werner did not waste time to open his Blues account within 4 minutes of the encounter.

Hakim Ziyech put in a superb ball to Callum Hudson-Odoi, but the Engliah youngster made a mess of the header, but it fell nicely to Werner who tapped home.

It sent Chelsea fans into meltdown on social media with many predicting it will be the first of many.

One said: “He needed just four minutes to score, we’ve signed a gem.”

Another added: “It took him four minutes… that Ziyech link is phenomenal.”

A third said: “Timo Werner scores less than 4 minutes into his Chelsea debut.

“What a ball from Ziyech to start the move. Wow.”

One fan noted: “Admin drunk on the tears of other fans after seeing Werner score inside 5 mins.”

Photo Credit: Twitter @ ChelseaFC

Timo Werner wasted no time hitting the ground running after needing just four minutes to open his Chelsea account.

The £53million summer signing is off to a flyer after linking up with fellow new arrival Hakim Ziyech to score in their pre-season clash with Brighton.

Boss Frank Lampard announced a strong starting XI that also included the likes of N’Golo Kante and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

But it appears Werner has already stolen the show by scoring with just his second touch of the ball.

A brilliant pass from Ziyech found Hudson-Odoi in the box who headed it into the path of Werner.

The 24-year-old goal machine needed no second introduction before burying his chance confidently in the bottom corner.

Photo Credit: Twitter @ChelseaFC

Victor Osimhen scored a hat-trick in the first eight minutes of Napoli’s 11-0 friendly win over L’Aquila, with Lorenzo Insigne’s treble, Dries Mertens and Chucky Lozano braces too.

The Partenopei officially began their pre-season preparations with a mini-tournament against local teams Castel di Sangro and L’Aquila.

Coach Gennaro Gattuso used a 4-3-3 formation for the opener, a 10-0 victory over Castel di Sangro with Matteo Politano bagging a hat-trick, braces for Arkadiusz Milik and Amin Younes, then goals for Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Gianluca Gaetano and a spectacular Kalidou Koulibaly overhead kick.

Gattuso changed things up for the second match with L’Aquila, which was probably closer to the team we’ll see starting the Serie A season.

It was a 4-2-3-1 system with Hirving Lozano, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne fanning out behind summer signing Osimhen.

It’s safe to say the Nigerian got off to a good start, as he’d sprinted past defenders to score within 59 seconds.

Osimhen’s second goal arrived within three minutes and he’d completed his hat-trick by the eighth.

A Faouzi Ghoulam header, Insigne hat-trick, plus braces for Lozano and Mertens rounded out the scoreline at 11-0.

Osimhen showed precisely what Gattuso had meant when he said the striker wasn’t just a target man, as the former Lille forward also contributed two assists and sparked several other moves with his passes.

Allan, who is reportedly on the verge of a transfer to Everton, was nowhere to be seen.

Napoli (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Malcuit, Manolas, Rrahmani, Ghoulam; Elmas, Lobotka; Lozano, Mertens, Insigne; Osimhen

Photo Credit: Twitter @sscnapoli_br

AC Milan are reportedly in talks with Bournemouth to re-sign goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The former Chelsea stopper spent the second half of last season in Italy providing back up to 21-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Begovic, 33, only made two appearances in Milan, but it is understood they want the Bosnian back as their No2.

According to The Telegraph, the Serie A giants and Bournemouth have started talks over a deal for the keeper.

With the Cherries returning to the Championship, they could demand a fee for Begovic.

It would also allow them to ease the their wage bill.

Photo Credit: SkySports