Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has said that he has been impressed with the determination of Christian Pulisic since joining the team in pre-season training. The United States international was initially expected to join the squad towards the end of the month after the Gold Cup exploits, but he has chosen to cut short the holiday by a couple of weeks.

Speaking to Goal.com, Lampard acknowledged that he has been impressed with what he has seen of Pulisic over the past few days, but the attacker would still require time to adapt to the new league, he said: “Good, he has been here a couple of days really in terms of training, so have been really impressed. He’s comfortable on the ball and I think he should have had a penalty towards the end of the game. He wants to try to take people on, the sort of player the fans are going to like so we have to give him a little bit of time to adapt slightly. But the way he has trained, the way he has come in with his personality looks great so I am really pleased to have him.”

Chelsea recently tackled Kawasaki Frontale in a pre-season friendly and the game witnessed them suffer a 1-0 loss. The defeat is unlikely to have any implications on the new campaign but Lampard needs to find the best combination before the Premier League opener against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Shortly after, they have a European Super Cup date against Liverpool and the Blues surely can’t afford to begin the campaign with back-to-back losses.

Meanwhile, the west London club won’t be making any more signings for the summer because of the transfer ban and the focus for the season would be on the reserve players and the young graduates. Danny Drinkwater, Michy Batshuayi, Kurt Zouma are some of the senior recruits, who could make a mark. On the other hand, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, and Callum Hudson-Odoi could be among the young players to watch out for.