Chelsea FC announced today, Monday, that it has sacked its coach Frank Lampard from his post after suffering 5 defeats in eight matches in the Premier League, causing it to plummet to ninth place among the tournament's 20 teams.
"This was a difficult decision for the club. I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank, and I hold him a great deal of respect," the Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich said in a statement.
"He is a man of tremendous integrity and with the highest level of work ethics," the statement added. "But in the current circumstances, we believe it is better to replace the coach."
Chelsea Football Club has today parted company with Head Coach Frank Lampard.
- Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 25, 2021
British reports stated that former Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel is the most prominent candidate to take over the job, replacing Lampard, the former England player, who started his career with Chelsea in 2019.
In his first season with the team (2019-2020), Lampard led Chelsea to the semi-finals in the league as well as reaching the FA Cup final, but he did not achieve the desired results this season despite the club's spending more than 220 million pounds (300.94 million dollars) on new signings.
Lampard became the 12th coach to be said to have coached the club since his ownership transferred to the Russian billionaire in 2003.