Chelsea legend lampard set to take over at Derby County

Add as a preferred source on Google

Bengaluru, May 30: Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard is closing in on the Derby County manager's job after holding advanced talks with the Championship club.

The former Chelsea midfielder has edged towards the top job at the Rams after earlier this week claiming he is desperate to go into management.

The 39-year-old would inherit a team who finished sixth in the Championship last season, who he calls "ambitious" and a "big club".

The former England ace revealed: "There's been interest from Derby, I've been speaking to them.

"I'm ambitious and I want to become a manager at some point.

"It's a big club, with big tradition and big history, which I really like.

"We'll carry on speaking when I go home and see."

Former West Ham star Lampard, who has also held talks with Ipswich this summer, will be taking over a side expecting to at least make a promotion push once more.

In 2017-18, they crashed out of contention at the play-offs semi-final stage, losing to eventual winners Fulham.

The Rams last tasted Premier League football ten years ago - suffering an horrific season, with just one win and 11 points from their 38 games, finishing dead-last.

Now, Lampard will walk into one of the most demanding jobs in the Championship as the rookie boss is set to become the eighth Rams manager in the last five years.

Chairman Mel Morris has already said he will be cutting costs this summer - with little cash for major signings. Lampard would instead need to use his connections to land some top loan signings in the summer window.

He is in good terms with both Chelsea and Manchester City, two of the best youth setups in England and that could be a good news for the Rams.

Derby are expected unveil Lampard this week, and appoint Chelsea Under-18s coach Jody Morris as his No2, after the pair became friends during their playing days at Chelsea.

With Steven Gerrard taking over at Rangers and Ryan Giggs managing the Welsh national team, Lampard is also set to start the second innings of his career and we could see the trio colliding with each other later at some point in their careers.