Chelsea have appointed club legend Frank Lampard as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
Lampard, who was at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night to watch Chelsea’s goalless draw against Liverpool just 48 hours after Graham Potter was sacked, will be in charge for Saturday’s game at Wolves.
Nothing has been discussed about Lampard staying beyond the summer, with the process for identifying and appointing a full-time head coach continuing.
The 44-year-old, who is Chelsea’s record goalscorer, was dismissed as head coach at Stamford Bridge in January 2021 following 18 months in the job. He then took charge at Everton, but was sacked in January after less than a year in the role.
Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali told the club’s official website: “We are delighted to welcome Frank back to Stamford Bridge. Frank is a Premier League Hall of Famer and a legend at this club.
“As we continue our thorough and exhaustive process for a permanent head coach, we want to provide the club and our fans with a clear and stable plan for the remainder of the season.
“We want to give ourselves every chance of success and Frank has all of the characteristics and qualities we need to drive us to the finish line.
‘We have an important game against Wolves on Saturday and then we will turn our attention to our Champions League quarter-final in Madrid next week.
“We are all going to give Frank our full backing as we aim to get the best possible outcome from all our remaining games.”
A caretaker move for Lampard comes after Chelsea held talks in London with former Barcelona and Spain boss Luis Enrique over their permanent managerial vacancy.
The 52-year-old, who is out of work after leaving the Spain job following the World Cup, won the treble at Barcelona in 2014/15, lifting LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
The Spaniard and former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann are the leading contenders to take the job permanently.
Sky in Germany are reporting that talks between Nagelsmann’s representatives and Chelsea are ongoing and positive.
The 35-year-old, recently sacked by Bayern Munich, wants to manage in the Premier League and sees it as his natural next destination but will not rush into a decision over his future amid strong interest from Chelsea and Tottenham.
The German wants a short period to reset and his preference is to oversee a full pre-season when taking on a new job.
Chelsea are set to assess up to seven candidates with Mauricio Pochettino, Ruben Amorim, Oliver Glasner and Luciano Spalletti among those under discussion at Stamford Bridge.
However, Sky Sports News understands former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is not a candidate, while Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi is not believed to be on the list.
