Chelsea legend linked with surprise return to management at top European club

A former Chelsea footballer has been linked with a surprise return to management with a huge European club.

Lyon are currently without a manager after the dismissal of former coach Laurent Blanc, and the seven-time French champions are currently bottom of the league with one point from their opening four games.

The French giants are determined to turn their season around with a new face in the dugout, but they were knocked back by ex-Chelsea and Brighton boss Graham Potter, who did not think it was the right time to return to management according to David Ornstein of The Athletic.

Lyon have now turned their attention to other potential targets and a new frontrunner for the vacancy is another former Chelsea manager in Frank Lampard.

Lampard is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever footballers and he enjoyed an incredible 13-year playing career with The Blues, which saw him win three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one Champions League and one Europa League.

The midfielder remains Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer with an incredible 211 strikes in all competitions.

Lampard has returned to Stamford Bridge for two spells in the managerial dugout. In his first term as Chelsea boss in 2019/20 he was praised for his ability to harness the talents of some of the club's academy players and his team qualified for the Champions League, despite having a transfer embargo.

Lampard struggled to build on this success the following season and was dismissed halfway through the 2020/21 season.

The Chelsea icon went on to have an unsuccessful 44 game spell at Everton, before making a surprise return to Stamford Bridge at the end of last season.

During this time Lampard failed to turn the tide in a bleak season and he won just one of his 11 games in the dugout.

Lampard is admired strongly by Lyon’s co-owner John Textor, according to 90min.com. But he is not the only big name to be linked with the post and 2006 World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso has also been labelled as a potential candidate.

Gattuso has previously managed a host of European clubs including AC Milan, Napoli and Valencia. The Italian has been without a club since January when he left his role at the Mestalla Stadium.