Frank Lampard has told Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang he has to impress in training if he wants a place in the Chelsea side.
Aubameyang has been overlooked since being signed by former Blues boss Thomas Tuchel and was not included in the Champions League squad.
But Lampard, back at Chelsea as interim boss, brought the striker on as a substitute during last weekend’s defeat at Wolves.
And he was asked at a press conference on Friday afternoon what kind of role Aubameyang might have been now and the end of the season.
Lampard replied: “We’ll see on that one. I don’t want to go position-specific. What I do want to say is that the players have to feel that when they train and prepare, that the competitive nature we have in the squad to get in the team needs to be high in every position.
“Auba’s a bit like everybody in the squad, whether you’ve been starting before or not starting so much, you have to compete in training and show that you’re worthy of a place.
“And of course his history says he has a fantastic goalscoring record. So we’ll see.”
Lampard also revealed that he plans to make changes for Saturday’s home game against Brighton – again with the theme of giving chances to players who train well.
He explained: “I want to be part of a process in this period where players have an opportunity – if they train (well) and they deserve to play, they get an opportunity on the pitch and they show what they can do.
“Tomorrow will be an opportunity for some players that didn’t play in the Champions League and possibly didn’t play at the weekend to come in.
“It’s a game where we absolutely need freshness and energy. So every opportunity, they should take.”
