Revealed: Real reasons why Chelsea sacked Lampard
The reign of Frank Lampard as manager of English Premier League side Chelsea came to an end on Monday afternoon and the reasons for his sack is now coming into public knowledge.
According to The Athletic, one of the reasons for Lampard’s dismissal was due to his relationship with influential director Granovskaia becoming fractured after several disagreements.
Among many other infractions, the ex-England midfielder reportedly clashed with Marina Granovskaia over Kepa Arrizabalaga’s treatment and his insistence on signing Declan Rice before he was sacked by the club.
Tensions behind the scenes first emerged 12 months ago when Lampard implied criticism of the hierarchy for the club’s reluctance to recruit in the January window.
However, the same report claims the real bone of contention was when the manager began to drop the club’s record-signing Kepa towards the backend of last season after he had made a number of high-profile errors.
At the end of the last campaign, Lampard requested funds to sign a new keeper despite Chelsea chiefs reportedly telling him he should put his arm around Kepa and try to rebuild his confidence.
Kepa was unhappy with how Lampard dealt with the situation and is said to have felt that he did not provide sufficient support – and he eventually replaced him as Chelsea’s No 1 by signing Edouard Mendy from Rennes.
Last summer’s transfer window threw up more issues as Lampard tried to offload defender Antonio Rudiger despite the player being highly regarded by the Chelsea hierarchy.
Matters deteriorated further when Lampard continued to push to sign Declan Rice from West Ham to the annoyance of his bosses. A number of key figures at the club had reservations about the England international while the same report claim the club were ‘wary’ of the potential embarrassment of buying back a player who they had released as a teenager in a deal worth in excess of £70million.
Lampard was determined to acquire Rice and also Burnley’s James Tarkowski and continually tried to persuade the club to broker a deal, but Granovskaia was not keen on either of the signings and in the end neither player joined.
Following his dismissal, former Paris Saint Germain coach Tuchel is reportedly lined up to take Lampard’s place.
