Mikel Surprised At fast Lampard Progression

John Obi Mikel says it was a slight shock when Frank Lampard was appointed Chelsea manager as he thought John Terry would get the job first. Chelsea hired former midfielder Lampard as manager this summer, replacing Juventus-bound Maurizio Sarri, and the Englishman has enjoyed a decent start to life back at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues defeated Southampton 4-1 at St Mary’s prior to the international break, lifting the club to fifth in the Premier League and extending their winning run to four matches in all competitions.

The 41-year-old Lampard, who had no money to spend this summer due to a transfer ban imposed on the club, is a firm believer in giving youth a chance and he has done exactly that this season, handing opportunities to Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori.

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Mount made his first England start in Friday’s shock 2-1 Euro 2020 qualifying defeat in the Czech Republic, while Abraham, who has scored eight Premier League goals this season to sit alongside Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero at the top of the scoring charts, came on as a late sub.

Lampard’s stock continues to rise, having only taken his first managerial job at Derby County for the 2018/19 campaign, although former Chelsea team-mate Mikel thought somebody else would have beaten the Englishman to the position at Stamford Bridge.

The Nigerian, who currently plys his trade for Trabzonspor, is happy to see Lampard doing well but thought another ex-team-mate, John Terry, would have made the step up first. “I am very happy for Frank,” Mikel told 61 Saat. “When we were playing at Chelsea, we are expecting that John Terry and he would be very good managers but we were expecting Terry to reach that level first. But Lampard made a big step.”

Terry, who is third in Chelsea’s all-time appearance list on 717 outings, is currently assistant to Dean Smith at Aston Villa, who defeated Norwich City 5-2 last time out to climb to 15th in the Premier League.