Ex-Chelsea Frank Lampard becomes new Everton manager to replace Rafael Benitez

Frank Lampard gets a new chance in the English Premier League – the ambitious but seriously stagnant Everton. He signed a contract with the club for a period of 2.5 years. For good reason he turned down three EPL clubs in one year and waited for a decent offer. 

The former Chelsea footballer began his coaching career in the Championship with Derby County, after which Roman Abramovich thought it was a good decision to invite the legend of the club to the post of head coach. However, nothing good came of it, the bosses were not satisfied with the results and dismissed Lampard on January 25, 2021 – during this time the Londoners managed to win the Champions League with Thomas Tuchel, and Lampard still could not find a new club. 

During that period he had several offers – from Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Norwich. The first one who came to the former Chelsea coach was Palace: The Londoners were looking to replace Roy Hodgson, who at the end of the season decided to take a pause in his career (now he, by the way, is back to rescue Watford, after Claudio Ranieri was dismissed a couple of days ago).

The two sides came to an agreement then, but Lampard suddenly dropped out of the race at the end of May. According to the British media, he himself turned down the vacancy when he assessed the Palace squad and realized that many important players would leave the team in the summer after the expiration of their contracts and there would be a difficult and long rebuilding process required. Therefore, Crystal Palace switched to former Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira, who, by the way, is handling well so far.

The second club to offer the job was Aston Villa. In November, the management fired Dean Smith (and John Terry along with him) – Lampard was among the candidates, but was also highly doubtful about the project, as in the last possibility. It is funny who the club eventually chose – Lampard was overtaken by England’s other legendary midfielder, Steven Gerrard. 

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After that, the coach’s resignation immediately happened at Norwich – and here Lampard was also interviewed: he had dinner with the club’s director in Dubai. Frank was not the best choice and also strongly doubted the prospects of this project because the team are struggling for survival at the bottom of the table – in the end, the club chose former coach Dean Smith of Villa.

Everything came to fruition at Everton, a bit of a muddle firing Rafa Benitez and immediately a worthy candidate turned up – the interview was the key factor, Everton owner Farhad Moshiri even stressed: 

“He incredibly impressed us during the whole interview process. We are ready to fully support him because he will give the team an immediate boost.”

In the same way, the club instantly engaged in two important transfers to strengthen the center of the field: negotiating the final details on the loan of Donny van de Beek from Man United and the signing of Dele Alli from Tottenham. According to insiders, it was Lampard who insisted on both deals, he had personal contact with these players.

“I am convinced that we would have played better after the return of the injured and with the transfers,”

Benitez said after the resignation on his personal website.

It seems the Spaniard was no longer believed in, and neither was the sporting director Marcel Brandes (he brought in Benitez) who had been fired a little earlier in December. 

Read the story 👉: Everton have sacked Rafael Benitez after just six months in charge

And then there was also a strange story with Luca Digne – Benitez had a fight with the player, and the Frenchman was sold to Aston Villa, signaling that management support the coach in the conflict. Moreover, the funded transfer of Vitaliy Mikolenko from Dynamo Kyiv after the request of the Spaniard. A week later, Benitez was fired..

All in all, the club is full of contrariety and we can only wish Frank Lampard good luck. Let’s see how he can cope with the current situation.

“It is a huge honour for me to represent and manage a club the size and tradition of Everton Football Club. I’m very hungry to get started. After speaking to the owner, chairman and the board, I very much felt their passion and ambition. I hope they felt my ambition and how hard I want to work to bring it together.”

said the 43-year-old specialist in his first interview.

“You can feel the passion Everton fans have for their club. That will be hugely important. As a team – the competitive level that the Premier League brings and the position we are in the table – we certainly need that. It’s a two-way thing. I think Everton is a unique club in that you can really understand what the fans want to see. The first thing they want is fight and desire and that must always be our baseline.” 

“My first message to the players will be that we have to do this together. We’ll try to do our job and I know the fans will be there backing us.”

he encouraged the fans.

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• Everton has 19 points in 20 games and is 16th in the English Premier League standings for the 2021/2022 season – just 4 points above the relegation zone. The leader of the competition is Manchester City (57).