When he was still on the bench for the London team, Frank Lampard advised a reinforcement on the Chelsea board.
Frank Lampard admits he influenced the London club to sign West Ham’s brilliant midfielder Declan Rice during his first stint in charge of the side.
Lampard was not heard by Chelsea management
Rice is today set to join Arsenal for a record transfer fee of 120 million euros. A transfer that the English technician notes with regret. And for good reason ; he pushed Chelsea to enlist this element after having exfiltrated him Cobham when he was still only a junior.
Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Lampard said: “I wanted to bring Declan Rice back. I was convinced that this kid was going to be the captain of Chelsea for the next ten years. It didn’t happen anyway, it’s hard to dissect people’s work.
By joining the Gunners, Rice becomes the most expensive English player in history ahead of Jack Grealish (€117.5m) and Harry Maguire (€87m). And to think that Chelsea could have had him in their squad for nothing at all if they had listened to Lampard’s advice.
