Frank Lampard under scrutiny from Chelsea star amid blunt Jose Mourinho message
It's fair to say it's been a busy 24 hours for Chelsea, after they confirmed the return of Frank Lampard as interim manager.
Lampard's appointment comes as the club embarked on their search for a permanent replacement for Graham Potter who was sacked on Sunday, though the 44-year-old hinted at a possible longer stay, claiming “we will see what happens” when the term of his contract is up.
Chelsea had meetings with ex-Barcelona and Spain boss Luis Enrique on Wednesday, with Julian Nagelsmann, who left Bayern Munich last month, also a front-runner for the role long-term. Lampard, who was sacked by Everton in January, has been installed in order to give the club time to carry out an extensive and thorough recruitment process.
The club legend will now prepare his team for a crunch Premier League clash with Wolves on Saturday. As he gets to work at the club's Cobham training base, Mirror Football rounds up the latest Chelsea headlines...
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Lampard will have been greeted with plenty of familiar faces during his first training session on Thursday afternoon and some could benefit more than others during his interim reign.
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But it remains to be seen if Kepa Arrizabalaga will be one of them. The Spanish shot-stopper has re-established himself as Chelsea's No.1 this season, but he lost his spot to Edouard Mendy during Lampard's tenure. And the Spaniard was also less than complimentary about Lampard's tactics back in the summer.
Speaking about how life had changed under Lampard's successor, Thomas Tuchel, Arrizabalaga told Marca in June 2022: "We came from a not so elaborate game (with Lampard). We didn't have to take the ball from behind, a less planned game, more (about) the free expression of the player, back and forth and less control.
"With Tuchel we have returned to control. It is true that in the Premier League we were not close to the top two, but in the other tournaments we were very competitive."
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with Frank Lampard during their previous spell together (PA)Mourinho's blunt message to Lampard as he returns
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho previously gave a short-but-sweet response when asked about Lampard's Blues sacking in 2021. The two of them had a good relationship during Lampard's playing days, but Mourinho gave a fairly blunt assessment when he was questioned following Lampard's initial Stamford Bridge departure a couple of years ago.
When he was asked for his thoughts on Lampard's exit back in 2021, Mourinho, who was in charge of Tottenham at the time, simply said: "It is the brutality of modern football but when you become a manager you know that sooner or later it is going to happen."
Shortly after the appointment had been confirmed on Thursday, Lampard insisted that he had no doubts over agreeing to return to his club - even if the initial contact came as a bit of a surprise.
"[It was] a surprise in terms of you never know the decision the club are going to make," he explained. "I've been particularly enjoying my time at home. When you get time at home you can throw yourself into your family."
Jose Mourinho managed Lampard at Chelsea before going head-to-head with him as a coach (PA)Chelsea chiefs explain remarkable Lampard return as Boehly breaks silence
Chelsea 's co-controlling owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, say that Frank Lampard can 'drive them to the finish line' after confirming his appointment as caretaker manager.
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Boehly and Eghbali have now turned to him in their hour of need, declaring in a statement: "We are delighted to welcome Frank back to Stamford Bridge. Frank is a Premier League Hall of Famer and a legend at this club.
"As we continue our thorough and exhaustive process for a permanent head coach, 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 of success and Frank has all of the characteristics and qualities we need to drive us to the finish line.
"We have an important game against Wolves on Saturday and then we will turn our attention to our Champions League quarter-final in Madrid next week. We are all going to give Frank our full backing as we aim to get the best possible outcome from all our remaining games."
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