Frank Lampard was recently interviewed for the first time after his 18-month tenure as Chelsea manager. In the interview, he said that he had received many invitations in the past two months, but could not accept them because of family reasons. At the same time, he also talked about last summer's reinforcements, Chelsea did chase Rice last year, and he was very optimistic about him, but for various reasons, he was unable to sign.
Despite Lampard's legendary status at Stamford Bridge, boss Abramovich fired him in January, replaced by former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel. In a Q&A ahead of the London Football Awards ceremony on 29 April, Lampard said: "No matter how good you think you are, no matter what circumstances you are in, [being fired] can happen. But it will give you an idea of what's important, and it happened when we were about to have a little son and gave me more time to stay home, so I should be thankful for that, it's great to be with my family.
Speaking about the multiple job offers he received since leaving the Blues, Lampard said: "In the last six weeks to two months, I have been given a number of opportunities that have made me feel privileged and enjoyable, and it is certainly good to be able to come out of these two years of experience, but because of family relationships, I can't accept it. I thought about it, and it would be something I aspired to do at the right time and place. Now while I'm resting and recovering, I'm still watching the game closely. ”
In an interview, he confirmed the pursuit of West Ham midfielder Rice while in charge, one of the most untold secrets of the season, saying: "Now, you see him in England and soon you will find out that he is indispensable to England. England was lucky, and So were West Ham. He's a leader, it's clear he's destined to do great things, and I'm a huge fan of his. Understandably, West Ham knows the players they have, we brought in a lot of players in the summer, but for various reasons we failed to bring him in. I don't want Rice to be in an uncomfortable position because of this because what I see in him is his absolute performance and desire to play for West Ham. They gave him a chance and Rice would have his own options in the days to come, but he's doing really well now. ”
(Eucalyptus)