Tried to sign Jude Bellingham during my first stint at Chelsea, says Frank Lampard
In a recent BBC Sports appearance amidst the ongoing UEFA Euro 2024, Frank Lampard admitted to having had the chance to sign Jude Bellingham at Chelsea before he moved to Borussia Dortmund from Birmingham City.
The former Chelsea, Derby, and Everton manager was asked about the chance by the host, Gary Lineker, to which Lampard had this to say:
“Yeah.
My first time at Chelsea, so 2020[-ish]. I mean, it wasn’t rocket science [laughs]. Everybody wanted him, [Man] City, wanted him, Man United wanted him…
So, he came to the training ground…with his parents and Borussia Dortmund obviously wanted him and he ended up going there. But the best thing for me about him was, I knew the player, Chelsea had followed him for a long time, and I really liked him.
The price shot up, obviously, but his maturity really shone through at 17 years of age.
His parents had a plan, I tried to sell them the plan, I had Mason Mount in the first team, [Tammy] Abraham, young players, you can come and they were asking all the right questions and they decided to go and play and the rest is history at the minute.”
Lampard speaking on the BBC
While at Birmingham City, Jude Bellingham was subject to interest from all over England, but he also had a keen sense of not going after the big names and choosing a destination that would work for him in the long term, which is how the Dortmund move came to be.
Given what he’s doing for Real Madrid now, suffice it to say that his choice worked out just about fine.
Lampard does have an eye for talent
A lot of criticism can be laid at his door across his two stints as Chelsea coach, but what cannot be denied is Frank Lampard’s eye for talent.
It’s not only the players that were linked with Chelsea during his time at Stamford Bridge; it’s also the academy players he chose to bring into the first team when the Blues were under a transfer embargo.
Had it not been for his support, the likes of Reece James, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Marc Guéhi, Fikayo Tomori and many more would not have gone on to have the career trajectories they currently have.
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Lampard may have proved not good enough for top-level management thus far and would probably prefer staying in a cushiony punditry gig, though there’s an astute talent identifier in there.