Lampard returns to Chelsea as manager until end of season

London, April 6 (BNA): In a wild season of comings and goings at Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s erratic return to Stamford Bridge is among the most unexpected.

The Associated Press reports that Lampard, Chelsea’s record scorer and one of their all-time greatest players, was hired as caretaker manager until the end of the season on Thursday to give the club time to find a permanent replacement for the sacked Graham Potter.

Lampard was sacked by Chelsea just two years ago and replaced by Thomas Tuchel as coach, although this happened before the current Chelsea ownership led by American businessman Todd Boyle.

Lampard has now returned as a short-term solution while Chelsea continue to talk to candidates for the job on a full-time basis. Former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique was reported to be in London on Wednesday to speak to Chelsea officials while Julian Nagelsmann, who was recently sacked by Bayern Munich, has been linked with the vacancy.

“Frank is a Premier League celebrity and a legend at this club,” said Bohli and co-owner Behdad Eghbali. “As we continue our thorough and comprehensive process for a permanent manager, we want to provide the club and our fans with a clear and stable plan for the remainder of the season.

“We want to give ourselves every chance to succeed and Frank has all the characteristics and qualities we need to push us to the finish line.”

Lampard, who was sacked by relegation-threatened Everton in January, will lead Chelsea to the Champions League quarter-finals and in a back-and-forth meeting with defending champions Real Madrid.

When Chelsea fired him in January 2021, Lampard was denied the opportunity to coach the team in that season’s Champions League knockout stage. Tuchel took over, made the team hard to beat and ended up leading Chelsea to their second European Cup title by defeating Manchester City in the final.

Lampard’s first match at Chelsea will be against Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Saturday. Chelsea languish in 11th place, 14 points behind the top four, and are unlikely to finish in the Champions League qualifying spots.

The team he will inherit is very different from the one he left behind, after Chelsea’s spending spree in the last two transfer windows totaling $630m on 16 players.

Lampard, a Chelsea midfielder from 2001-2014, will be the fourth coach to lead the team this season, after Tuchel, Potter, who was sacked on Sunday, and Bruno Saltor, who took charge of the goalless draw with Liverpool on Tuesday. .

“We will give Frank our full support as we aim to get the best possible result from all the remaining matches,” Bohle and Eghbali said.

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