Coventry City ‘doing everything’ to stop Frank Lampard joining Premier League club
Coventry City are determined to keep hold of Frank Lampard for the long-term future despite interest from Premier League clubs including Crystal Palace.
The boss’ stock has continued to rise since taking over at the CBS Arena, where he has led Coventry to the top of the Championship as things stand.
As I revealed on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Transfer Insider podcast, Crystal Palace are eyeing Lampard with Oliver Glasner set to walk away in the summer.
The Austrian’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and his decision to confirm his departure mid-way through the season has forced Palace to consider their options.
However, Coventry are hopeful that they can achieve promotion this season and rule out any interest in their manager by graduating to the Premier League.
Coventry City determined to keep Frank Lampard
West Ham are also considering Lampard as a potential replacement for Nuno Espirito Santo, who is under intense pressure at the London Stadium.
There is a feeling that the boss could be tempted to return to the Premier League where he had previous spells with both Chelsea and Everton if the opportunity arose.
However, nothing will happen before the end of the season, when his future could be decided by whether Coventry can remain on course to secure automatic promotion.
As I explained on the Transfer Insider podcast, “Yeah, obviously Oliver Glasner said he told the club in October that he was planning to leave at the end of the season.
“So Crystal Palace have been looking at possibilities and candidates for the role since then, but he’s not going to be an easy person to replace.
“Frank Lampard’s done a very good job at Coventry. They’re on the brink of maybe winning promotion to the Premier League.
“He’s turned things around at Coventry, got to the playoffs last year and they’re now leading the way at the top of the Championship table with a healthy lead.
“They’ll be quite hopeful that they could see the job through and win promotion to the Premier League.
“I think that would make it hard to try and prise him away from Coventry if he was to end up winning promotion to the Premier League, which would be a huge achievement for Lampard.
“Coventry will do everything they can to keep hold of Lampard at the club as well.”
Gareth Southgate’s stance on taking Crystal Palace job
Lampard is far from the only manager on Palace’s shortlist, with the likes of Roger Schmidt, Jose Bordalas and Inigo Perez also being linked with the role.
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate has been linked with Crystal Palace, with suggestions he could be tempted to take charge at the club he represented as a player.
However, Football Insider revealed on 20 January that Southgate is unlikely to be Palace’s next manager as he is not considering a return to club management.
The former England boss is currently enjoying his time away from football and is in no rush to find a way to return to the managerial hot seat any time soon.
Southgate hasn’t managed in the Premier League since 2009, and is not pushing to get back into club management at the moment.
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