Signing Timo Werner is latest evidence of Chelsea's front-foot approach to transfer market

Frank Lampard will not have forgotten the summer of 2014, when, as he arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, it was confirmed that his Chelsea playing career was over.

Lampard, now Chelsea’s head coach, was on international duty with England, who were in Miami as part of their preparations for the Brazil World Cup.

The tournament turned out to be a disaster for England, but the summer was an undisputed success for Chelsea who outflanked their rivals in the transfer market to set up a Premier League title-winning season.

Just 10 days after Lampard had ended his Chelsea career, the club announced the signing of Cesc Fabregas as his replacement from Barcelona and a month later Diego Costa and Filipe Luis followed.

It was a summer that caught Chelsea’s rivals off guard. Manchester United had been tracking Fabregas while Costa was on the radar of every big club in Europe. But the London club were quicker and more decisive.

Who knows where this summer will lead, given the uncertainty created by the coronavirus crisis, but there are already shades of 2014 in Chelsea’s intent in the early part of the summer transfer window.

It was back in February that the club agreed the deal worth £37million to sign Hakim Ziyech and just days before Chelsea restart their season against Aston Villa, Timo Werner has signed a five-year contract to move to Stamford Bridge from Red Bull Leipzig.

Just as United had been the assumed destination of Fabregas were he to return to the Premier League six years ago, Liverpool had been leading the race to sign Werner ever since it became clear he would not be sold in January.

The Premier League leaders, however, became unsure about the economics involved in meeting Werner’s £47.5m release clause and paying him a wage of around £170,000-a-week, which ultimately let Chelsea in.

If Lampard had been frustrated by the fact that Chelsea simply could not convince Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain to negotiate over Dries Mertens and Edinson Cavani in January, he will be delighted by the speed at which director Marina Granovskaia has approached the forthcoming transfer window.

• From the archive: How Marina Granovskaia became Abramovich's 'Special One'

Chelsea had scouted Werner in the Champions League last-16 victory over Tottenham Hotspur and ultimately decided he was capable of bringing his stunning Bundesliga form to the Premier League.

During a secret pre-lockdown trip to Germany to meet the player, his agent and his family, Lampard outlined his vision to the 24-year-old, making it clear that Chelsea are not only aiming to qualify for the Champions League each year but are determined to close the gap on Liverpool and Manchester City and start winning titles again.

The personal touch from Lampard has no doubt been important to Chelsea during negotiations with Ziyech and Werner, just as it was when Jose Mourinho involved himself in the club’s transfer business in 2014.

Mourinho famously invited Fabregas to his house, where he drew out the Chelsea team he wanted and said it would win the title, to convince the former Arsenal midfielder that he could move to the blue side of London.

Compare that with Mourinho’s sullen approach to the following summer or that of Antonio Conte, who simply switched off his mobile telephone and became uncontactable in the summer following Chelsea’s last Premier League title success in 2017.

Granovskaia and former technical director Michael Emenalo took much of the criticism for some of the disastrous signings three years ago, but Conte’s disappearing act had set the tone for what followed.

Similarly, Maurizio Sarri could be a frustrating colleague during transfer negotiations as the 61-year-old did not communicate over WhatsApp and made little attempt to keep in close contact with Granovskaia over the club’s efforts to sign his targets.

Questions were raised over whether or not the joined-up thinking Lampard has been keen to push between himself Granovskaia and technical performance advisor Petr Cech was in practice when January passed with no signings, but it has certainly been in evidence since.

Ziyech confirmed that Lampard was instrumental in his decision to commit himself to Chelsea as early as February, explaining: “We had a few long conversations about his approach, the playing style, the club, about me personally. And later on we texted quite a lot.”

Lampard also told Ziyech he had been tracking him since watching the attacking midfielder in last season’s Champions League semi-final against Tottenham. It appears that a good performance against Chelsea’s London rivals gets remembered.

While Lampard had confirmed his departure before the arrivals of Fabregas and Costa in 2014, Chelsea have signed Ziyech and Werner ahead of the anticipated departures of a host of players, and that too will most likely prove to be a clever move.

Werner’s transfer was already clinched by the time Pedro Rodriguez agreed a summer move to Roma. The Spaniard may not play for Chelsea again after June 30 and Willian is also yet to sign a contract beyond the end of this month.

Waiting to do any incoming business until players on their way out had officially cleared their lockers would have left Chelsea vulnerable in the market. Knowing that they had to replace two of their most experienced attacking players would have also encouraged selling clubs, agents and, to a lesser extent, players themselves to take advantage of Chelsea’s position.

Granovskaia was never going to allow that to happen and taking a front-footed approach to the market in a time of such uncertainty is a huge boost for Lampard and should, in the long term, benefit Chelsea economically, as well as on the pitch.

Lampard can also hope that the signings will give his squad an extra spring in their step for the final nine games of the season. Tammy Abraham and Kepa Arrizabalaga were quick to "like" social media reports that Werner was on his way when the news was first revealed by Telegraph Sport earlier this month.

Of course, the signings of Werner and Ziyech are not gamble free and neither player can offer the sort of assurances that Fabregas did when he arrived as a World Cup winner.

But while Tottenham and Arsenal fight over Willian as they plan for a transfer window in which the majority of their business will have to be loans and free transfers, Chelsea’s intent is already clear and those around the club believe there will be more to follow Ziyech and Werner, with Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell among those on their radar.