England and Chelsea legend Frank Lampard targeted by Premier League club
Lampard is rebuilding his managerial career at Coventry City.
Frank Lampard has emerged as a target for a Premier League as he continues to rebuild his managerial career at Coventry City.
Lampard’s managerial credentials were heavily scrutinised following difficult spells in charge of Chelsea and Everton.
The ex-England midfielder is enjoying much more success at Championship side Coventry, putting the club in contention for promotion to the Premier League.
Coventry were just 17th in the Championship, two points above the relegation places, when Lampard was appointed to replace club legend Mark Robins last November.
With just a handful of games remaining, Lampard’s side are within a victory of the play-offs.
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Lampard taking Coventry into the Premier League remains a possibility and his spell at the Midlands club has caught the eye of a Premier League club.
Southampton have started planning for next season after their relegation from the English top-flight was confirmed on Sunday.
The Saints parted ways with Ivan Juric less than 24 hours after relegation to the Championship was confirmed.
talkSPORT say Southampton have already identified four potential successors to Juric, with Lampard’s time in charge of Coventry noted by the St Mary’s board.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl, Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior and former Norwich boss David Wagner are also being considered by Southampton, who suffered the earliest Premier League relegation in history.
Juric led Southampton to just two wins from his 16 games in charge, suffering 13 defeats.
First-team coach Simon Rusk will take interim charge of Southampton for the rest of the season as the south coast club desperately look to avoid becoming the worst team in Premier League history.
Currently on 10 points, Southampton need two more from their last seven games to avoid breaking Derby County’s record for the lowest ever points tally.
Former England midfielder Adam Lallana, who has made 14 Premier League appearances for Southampton this season, will be Rusk’s assistant manager.
Announcing Juric’s sacking on Monday, Southampton said in a statement: ‘Ivan came to Southampton at a tough time and was tasked with trying to improve a squad in a difficult situation.
‘Unfortunately, we haven’t seen performances progress the way we had hoped, but we would like to thank Ivan and his staff for their honesty and hard work as they fought against the odds to try and keep us up.
‘With relegation to the Championship now confirmed, we believe it is important to give fans, players and staff some clarity on the future as we head into a very important summer.
‘The process of finding a new manager to lead us as we look to secure an immediate return to the Premier League has now begun and is being led by Group Technical Director Johannes Spors.’
Lampard established himself as one of the best midfielders in Premier League history before embarking upon his managerial career.
In over a decade at Chelsea, Lampard won three league titles, six domestic cups and the Champions League while scoring a club-record 211 goals.
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