There’s a line in The Athletic‘s lengthy report on Frank Lampard’s dismissal which, to some, may suggest there’s something untoward going on in the Chelsea dressing room.
Lampard was sacked by Chelsea on Monday, despite having overseen a 3-1 victory over Luton in the FA Cup on Sunday, a win which saw the Blues progress into the fifth round of a competition which they reached the final of last term.
That wasn’t enough to save him from Roman Abramovich’s notorious metaphoric axe, though. The aforementioned report by The Athletic goes into detail in an attempt to explain why the Russian oligarch came to that decision.
MORE: “No complaints” – Chelsea legend lists three things that Frank Lampard got wrong as Blues boss
Chelsea fans could be forgiven for being drawn towards one nugget of information in particular in The Athletic’s report, which we have included below.
Not to suggest that Jose Mourinho’s struggles and the toxicity at Chelsea towards the tail end of his tenure was not well documented, but it would seem bizarre to make that comparison unless you were a part of both, right?
Well, if one was to imply that the comparison was being made by a player who had worked under Mourinho and Lampard at Chelsea, then that would leave only Kurt Zouma and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Kurt Zouma was given an opportunity by Lampard to nail down a spot in the starting eleven, one which he grabbed with both hands, despite having been among the substitutes for Lampard’s final two league games.
Azpilicueta, despite being club captain, had lost his place as a starter in defence to youngster Reece James.
But – all of this would only be relevant if we were implying it was Zouma or Azpilicueta who had been running their mouths in the dressing rooms – which, of course, we’re not.
It’s fishy, and the identity of the player(s) involved with likely never be known. The big problem for Chelsea is having players leaking information to the press in this manner, not that we’re complaining.