The Chelsea plateau ready to give Lampard time … unless it's really awful from the start

CHELSEA aims to give Frank Lampard time to find his marks when he gets the keys to Stamford Bridge.

Blues icon Lamps is the first choice to replace the Italian Maurizio Sarri in the ongoing negotiations.

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Lampard played for Luiz Felipe Scolari, Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo – none of which lasted a season in Chelsea.

He will take charge of a team that lost Eden Hazard while the club is also serving a transfer ban.

So he will not be without a catastrophic start – because Chelsea knows they are hiring Lamps in advance because of the circumstances.

The Blues have so far not requested that the ban be frozen by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is expected to rule on appeal only after the closing of the transfer window on August 8th. .

But Lampard is still expected to be in the top four and will play football in the Champions League in 2020-21.

Roman Abramovich and the Blues hierarchy want Lampard – who will be backed by compatriot Jody Morris and former Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given – to give the club's outstanding academy products a chance.

There was confusion at the bridge last season because of Sarri's reluctance to trust Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Lampard can also call on lenders Reece James, Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and striker Tammy Abraham.

The club believes Ethan Ampadu and George McEachran have the potential to succeed, but will not put pressure on the new boss.