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Abramovich makes phone plea to Lampard

After an intervention by Roman Abramovich, Frank Lampard has agreed to become Chelsea manager, reports the Sunday Times. Lampard insisted that he should be allowed at least two seasons at the Bridge and Abramovich rang Lampard to give him his personal assurance that he would be given at least two transfer windows. With the club currently serving a two window transfer ban, that would set Lampard up for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

Duncan Castles comments, 'The owner's intervention is particularly significant because his interest in the club was thought to be waning. The Russian put plans for a £1bn-plus stadium rebuild "on hold" last year after losing his entrepreneurial visa and took up residency in Israel. He was not seen at home games in 2018/19 and has stopped making payments of more than £1m a season for hospitality boxes at Stamford Bridge.'

Lampard has nurtured a long-term ambition to manage Chelsea, but he did not expect it to come so soon. He saw Derby County as a long-term project rather than a stepping stone. Derby are asking for the full £4m left on the two years of Lampard's contract at Pride Park.

Chelsea have spent more than £90m on payoffs to managers and coaching staff over the past 16 years. The only unusual aspect of Maurizio Sarri's impending departure is that Juventus will have to pay Chelsea compensation. This will start at £5m and will rise to £8m if he is successful. This will more than cover the cost of compensating Derby.

Some think that Lampard's record at Derby does not merit such a top job, but his appointment would probably be welcomed by discontented Chelsea fans who did not warm to Sarri or his style of play. At Derby Lampard took over an ageing squad, made some good acquisition and developed a quicker style of play.

Oliver Kay commented in The Times yesterday, 'There has been a growing sense that something is broken and needs to be fixed … There is a desire to rebuild relationships within the club, to re-energise the fanbase and … to establish a pathway from a highly productive academy into the first team squad. There is an appetite for a change in philosophy and in outlook.'

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