Derby County manager Frank Lampard has refused to rule out the possibility of making a return to Chelsea. Lampard established himself as a legend for the Blues during his playing days with the club. He launched his managerial career with Derby ahead of this season and has impressed as he guided the Rams to the Championship playoff final.
With Maurizio Sarri’s future as Chelsea manager currently being the subject of intense speculation, Lampard has been linked with the role, listed amongst the favourites when betting on exchange sites to take over at Stamford Bridge. Lampard is certainly a quality manager in the making. However, it could just be a bit too premature to hire him for the Chelsea role should Sarri end up parting ways with the club this summer.
Lampard lacks sufficient experience managing at the highest level. He has never previously managed in the Premier League and while he has done an impressive job at the helm of Derby so far, he has yet to win any major trophies with the club or do anything particularly noteworthy at the club as yet.
Due to Lampard’s lack of managerial experience, there is every chance that things may just go wrong if he is appointed to manage the West London giants on a permanent basis next season. He may also have to contend with a difficult period as the Blues’ two-window transfer ban is set to be imposed from this summer and will continue during the next January transfer window.
When pressed on the matter, Lampard said, as quoted by Goal: “When I started out in management, people said, ‘Your dream must be to be Chelsea manager.’ It’s an easy link.
“My dream was to do as well as I can day in and day out to be successful. I can’t call that one. Those things happen or they don’t or whatever. My focus is completely on the here and now. I find it quite difficult because they’ve (Chelsea) got a game coming up. More importantly for me, we’ve got a game coming up before that.”
Lampard’s choice of words were certainly careful, with the veteran aware that any answer confirming an interest in the job as Chelsea manager would likely be used as a “headline”, and also disrespectful to current Blues manager Sarri. However, his refusal to outright deny that he would consider the role will be seen as telling.
