Chelsea have confirmed that they have appointed Frank Lampard as caretaker manager.
When Graham Potter was removed from his role as head coach on Sunday evening, the Blues owners were left with a decision to make over whether to bring in a replacement on a short or long-term basis.
With many of their alleged targets preferring to wait until the summer for their next job, it became apparent that Bruno Saltor - initially chosen as interim head coach - or an outside name were more likely to have the reins until the end of the season.
After his surprise appearance at Chelsea's Premier League fixture with Liverpool on Tuesday evening, it has now been confirmed that Lampard will return to Stamford Bridge for the remainder of 2022-23.
As widely reported, Chelsea have made the appointment to provide themselves with time to go through the process of finding the right replacement for Potter.
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Nevertheless, Lampard gets the opportunity to return to Chelsea just over two months after he was sacked as manager of relegation-threatened Everton.
In a statement, co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said: "We are delighted to welcome Frank back to Stamford Bridge. Frank is a Premier League Hall of Famer and a legend at this club.
"As we continue our thorough and exhaustive process for a permanent head coach, we want to provide the club and our fans with a clear and stable plan for the remainder of the season. We want to give ourselves every chance of success and Frank has all of the characteristics and qualities we need to drive us to the finish line.
"We have an important game against Wolves on Saturday and then we will turn our attention to our Champions League quarter-final in Madrid next week. We are all going to give Frank our full backing as we aim to get the best possible outcome from all our remaining games."
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After a trophy-laden career at Stamford Bridge which saw become the club's record goalscorer with 211 strikes from 648 appearances, the 44-year-old is generally regarded as the greatest player in the history of the club.
Lampard also received plaudits for his first managerial reign in West London, recording 44 wins and 23 defeats from 84 matches having started that stint in July 2019 with Chelsea serving a transfer ban.
During his stay, Lampard secured a top-four finish in the Premier League, reached the FA Cup final in a season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and had Chelsea in top spot of the Premier League in December of the following campaign.
However, a run of five defeats in eight games led to then-owner Roman Abramovich sacking Lampard, the decision later being justified with the club winning the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel at the end of the 2020-21 season.
Lampard's first game in charge comes away at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday before he takes Chelsea to the Santiago Bernabeu for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid.
Darren Plant
