“We were in touch”- World Class rival PL boss welcomes Lampard’s return at Chelsea

Pep Guardiola reacts to Frank Lampard getting the interim job at Chelsea

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola welcomes Frank Lampard back after his return to Chelsea, this time as an interim boss till the end of this season.

The Blues sacked Graham Potter on Sunday following a series of underwhelming results. Bruno Saltor took charge of the Liverpool game on Tuesday. A day later, the club announced the arrival of Lampard as a caretaker boss till the summer.

The idea is that this appointment will give them the time to finalise their process of hiring a permanent manager in the summer. Guus Hiddink has backed the club to hand that role to Lampard itself. Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique are in running to take over the reins.

Here’s what Guardiola said when asked about the return of Lampard to Chelsea (h/t Metro):

“We were in touch when he was at Everton. It is good to see him back, it’s a new opportunity at the club he loves and a new challenge for him.”

If we take a look at Lampard’s managerial career so far, it has been underwhelming, to say the least. He started well in his previous spell at Chelsea but petered out in the second season. Something similar happened at Everton, where the start was good and the end was messy.

So, in a way, the Englishman is fit for purpose for this role where he only has a few games to bring something to the table before things start to level up and get difficult.

Irrespective of how he does, the club must make sure they have a new manager ready to take over in the summer. In terms of managerial acumen, Nagelsmann and Enrique are streets ahead of Lampard.

More Chelsea News:

• Kai Havertz insists he is happy at Chelsea and rules out a move to Bayern Munich
• Jamie Redknapp say Frank Lampard has unfinished business at Chelsea
• Liverpool are ready to offer Mason Mount the wages he is seeking at Chelsea

Moving away from all of that, let’s hope that the interim boss helps the team in ending this horrendous season on a positive note. Let that become a base before potentially good things happen in the summer.