Since the announcement of Maurizio Sarri leaving Chelsea to join Juventus, the Blues have been actively searching for a replacement, who would take Chelsea to new heights. In a storm of speculations, one has caught the attention of the football community, which stated that the legendary Frank Lampard could return to Stamford Bridge after 5 long years. Only this time, as a manager.
The ex-England midfielder, who spent most of his career at Chelsea, Frank Lampard has made a name for himself as one of Chelsea legends, who will always be welcomed Stamford Bridge no matter his business there. During his 13 year-long campaign with the club, Lampard has helped his team win 3 Premier League titles, 4 FA cups, 2 EFL Cups, 2 FA Community Shields, UEFA Europa League and to top it all off, he helped Chelsea reach the finals of UEFA Champions League in 2008 and won the first ever Champions League title for Chelsea in 2012. His journey with Chelsea ended in 2014 when he left the club to join Manchester City. With that, he left a club where he accumulated a total of 640 appearances, scored 221 goals and added 150 assists, which even today puts him at the 4th place at all-time most appearances and is still the top scorer for FC Chelsea with 221 goals to his name.
Following Lampard’s 1 year-long spell at Manchester City, he packed his bags and headed to MLS, where he joined New York FC. There he accumulated 31 appearances, scored 15 goals and added 4 assists, which made him the best player in the team, however, Frank Lampard decided it was time for him to retire, which he announced in February 2017. Ending his career as a player, Lampard decided to try himself as a coach and it did not take long for a Championship club to approach him with an offer. On May 31st it was announced that Frank Lampard will be the new manager of Derby County on a three-year contract.
While there were some question marks about how well will Lampard perform as a coach, he did manage to help Derby to an impressive season. In the first year under Lampard, Derby reached the finals of the Championship playoffs, where they, unfortunately, lost to Aston Villa 2-1. Following his exceptional 1st season with Derby, speculations rose up suggesting he might re-join Chelsea as their new manager and a replacement for Sarri.
While there are no official announcements, the Sun reported that Chelsea are planning on announcing Lampard as their new coach at Stamford Bridge in time for the pre-season start next week. It was also reported that Lampard is expected to sign a three-year contract with his former club, which is believed to be worth £16.5m. Still, we are left wondering if the move will officially happen or will Lampard remain at Derby for another season. Derby County’s chairman Mel Morris has stressed that the possible move of Lampard is not yet a “done deal”, however, with all the speculations surrounding the return of Super Frank to Chelsea, it should not come off as a surprise if it the move will be announced by the end of the week.
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