Frank Lampard outlines Coventry City transfer stance after Brandon Thomas-Asante links
Frank Lampard has poured cold water over the idea that Coventry City forward Brandon Thomas-Asante may be imminently departing the club after speculation this week emerged linking him with a move to Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers.
Thomas-Asante, it has been claimed, was the subject of a £1.75m bid made by Rovers, who boss John Eustace has confirmed are after another forward in this January transfer window. Thomas-Asante only arrived at the CBS Arena, from West Bromwich Albion, in the summer for a little over £2m.
The former Salford City striker has only scored three times for the Sky Blues, despite topping Albion's goalscorer charts for the last couple of years; two of his strikes came in the EFL Cup and his solitary Championship goal arrived all the way back in October. In the 18 appearances he has made since, Thomas-Asante has struggled to make a notable impact in the final third.
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For Lampard, though, the window and all that goes with it, ought to be taken in alongside a generous pinch of salt. Instead, he has challenged Thomas-Asante to rediscover his goalscoring form - a challenge he has extended to the attacker's colleagues, too, having admitted that the collective output hasn't been what it might've since his appointment.
"Not as far as I'm concerned. He is our player, and remains so," Lampard indicated. "There is always going to be speculation. We get linked with players, half of which are nonsense. The rumour mill and actually what happens are two different things.
"At the minute it doesn't mean anything to me, other than the squad that we've got, we're missing some big players, three very important players. We have to get every ounce out of the squad that we've got currently. If we can improve it, then we will try and do that.
"I back him [Thomas-Asante]. I like him as a lad, he trains with a great attitude. He wants to train and be active, I think there has been an improvement in the last couple of weeks from getting back into the team, which has maybe given him a lift. Now, he needs to work more, but he's the same as the other strikers in the team.
"We work a lot on finishing, we have a pretty high xG but we create chances. We haven't scored enough in the ten games, though, through our strikers. I can be honest about that, because that's the brutal reality of it.
"When you're competing with others to get in the team, you get your opportunity in the team, there comes a time when you have to produce the end bit, which is what we want. For all the strikers here, that's something we really have to focus on and becoming more clinical when your chances come."
