Melchiot: ’I think they made a decision way before the sacking came’

Frank Lampard

took on a testing job at

in the summer of 2019 after Maurizio Sarri left the club.

He made impressive progress as Chelsea secured a top-four finish and reached the FA Cup final. However, Lampard decided to spend too much money on the new players in the summer of 2020 and it did not work well for him.

Now Chelsea have decided to dismiss Lampard and bring in former Paris Saint-Germain boss

Thomas Tuchel

, but

Mario Melchiot

believes they had already decided to replace him ‘way before the sacking came.’

“I was always a big fan of Frank taking the job but it took him a little bit too long to get his team playing the way he wanted it,” Melchiot said.

“The first year he had the ban going on and everyone said the way he managed a way around it and the way he brought in the young players was exactly the future that we were hoping for, to see Chelsea bringing through new young stars to really develop into their team instead of always having a team of players that had been bought outside.

“Then the next season comes, he gets the financial support and brings in star players like Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and he tried to make a team out of it.

“I felt like that didn’t really happen and it took a bit long. You know how it is. Some managers manage to get the time and I don’t think he has that after 18 months.

“My point of view would have been to let him run until the end of the season and then make a decision. I think they made a decision way before the sacking came.

“You aren’t just going to sack a manager at a club like Chelsea, you are going to make a decision way ahead of time, seeing if things change and then make a decision. That is what we have seen.”

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