Frank Lampard was at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night to complete the formalities of his emotional return to Chelsea with the club set to confirm the appointment of their record goalscorer as Maurizio Sarri’s successor as head coach on Thursday.
The former England midfielder was pictured arriving back at the stadium where he spent 13 glittering years as a player before signing a three-year deal worth around £4m a season and to conduct interviews with in-house media confirming his return. Derby County, whom Lampard took to the Championship play-off final in his solitary campaign in charge, are understood to have received in excess of £4m in compensation for their manager, who will be joined back in south-west London by his assistant, Jody Morris, and fitness coach, Chris Jones.
Chelsea, who lost Sarri to Juventus last month after a difficult year in charge, had been granted permission to open talks with their preferred target last week, with the Derby owner, Mel Morris, putting the subsequent delay in completing a deal down to the 41-year-old having been on holiday. Lampard is believed to have received assurances from the owner, Roman Abramovich, in the period since that he will be given time to make a proper mark back at the club with Chelsea currently operating under a transfer embargo which will potentially extend through to the summer of 2020.
That will severely restrict the club’s ambitions in the market – they have secured Christian Pulisic and Mateo Kovacic already this summer, having lost Eden Hazard to Real Madrid, and have a number of loanees who have returned – though Lampard has already expressed an eagerness to tap into the potential of the club’s youth-team set-up to bolster his options. His appointment is likely to be swiftly pursued by confirmation that Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi have signed new five-year deals at the club.
As well as roles for Morris and Jones, Lampard is expected to promote the highly regarded Joe Edwards, who has been working in the academy and under-23 set-up, and Eddie Newton to his backroom staff. The latter has more recently overseen the progress of the club’s battalion of loan players.
The finer details of Lampard’s arrival were being scrutinised by lawyers at Stamford Bridge on Wednesdaynight but the new head coach is expected to face the media for the first time as Chelsea’s head coach on Thursday. He will take the skeleton squad who have already reported back for pre-season to Dublin on Friday, with his first game in charge to be Wednesday’s friendly against Bohemians at Dalymount Park, before a second fixture against St Patrick’s Athletic three days later.
A squad further reinforced by first-team players returning after extended summer breaks will then travel to Japan for subsequent games against Kawasaki Frontale and Barcelona before the end of the month. His first Premier League game in charge will be at Manchester United before Chelsea, as Europa League winners, compete in the European Super Cup against Liverpool in Istanbul.
Derby are expected to confirm the former Netherlands international Phillip Cocu as Lampard’s successor at Pride Park. The 48-year-old made an impressive transition from player to manager during his time in charge of PSV Eindhoven, and is a free agent after leaving the Turkish club, Fenerbahce, last October.
