Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has hailed Jose Mourinho as the greatest manager in the world, heaping praise on the current Real Madrid manager.
Lampard has had a good season for Chelsea, which began with the midfielder not getting enough starts, but he finally won the trust of the fans and board alike. The England international was rumored to leave the London outfit in the summer, after not being offered a new contract yet this season but surely after delivering Champions League football to the Blues for next season thanks to his brace yesterday which enabled him to secure the Chelsea goal record over Bobby Tambling, Lampard will be offered a new deal.
Safe to say, Lampard’s most glorious time at Chelsea was with Jose Mourinho as manager, winning two consecutive Barclays Premier League titles, one FA Cup, and two league cups. Also, this was the period where Lampard established his image in the world as the 20-goals-a-season midfielder.
Chelsea fans would say Mourinho’s dismissal was a wrong decision in the first place, but would be content to set the mistake right this summer by signing the manager for the second time. Another reason why various managers have struggled at Chelsea is the deep influence by the board in the transfers at the club. Managers demand that they have the final say in all the deals, but with an owner as passionate as Roman Abramovich, that can be hard to come by.
Mourinho’s impact at Chelsea was not just on Lampard, but also on other current star players like skipper John Terry, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole and Petr Cech, who would welcome the manager back with open arms.
With the media dominated by news about Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson retiring at the end of this campaign, it will be interesting to see how talks between the representatives of Mourinho and Abramovich proceed. United have declared Everton boss, David Moyes, as the successor to Sir Alex, and this news will prompt Abramovich to seal the deal with Mourinho and prepare for next season.
Not only does Mourinho bring style back into the side, but also the ability to attract the top footballers in the world who sign for a club partly due to the stature of the manager in-charge.
According to the Metro, Lampard said, “I think it would be a great thing for the club,’ he said. ‘He is a successful manager and he would be a great thing for any club.”
“It’s hard to comment with the season still on-going and with the manager not here or chosen yet. It would be easy to speculate.”
“I have seen speculation before and a completely different manager walks through the door so you never know on that front.”
“But he is certainly one of the greatest if not the greatest manager in world football.”