Chelsea legend Claude Makelele is set to reunite with Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge as a Young Player Technical Mentor.
Makelele had been the manager of Belgian side KAS Eupen until June when he resigned. He is expected to be confirmed at Stamford Bridge in the coming days.
The career of Claude Makelele: Five key things to know…
- Makelele made 144 appearances for Chelsea as a player.
- He was named in the FIFPro World XI in 2005.
- Such was his influence that his position was named after him.
- He left the club in 2008 with five major honours to his name.
- He was assistant to Paul Clement during his time at Swansea.
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Makelele is returning to the Premier League in a coaching role for the first time since his brief stint in South Wales under former boss Paul Clement.
This season has been one of reunions at Chelsea: Lampard will be joined by Jody Morris in the dugout, Petr Cech is in a technical role and Joe Cole has taken up a spot as a coach in the youth academy.
The Blues will be hoping such esteemed former players will be able to bring back some of the glory days at the Bridge after an underwhelming couple of seasons, resulting in the loss of star man Eden Hazard in the midst of a transfer ban.
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A big season for Chelsea’s youth
Following their ban on signing players, it is unsurprising that the Blues are perhaps focusing their resources on youth development.
Youngsters such as Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Reece James (all of whom spent last season out on loan) are likely to feature heavily for Chelsea next season, so to see Makelele come in is no shock.
Lampard was an advocate of youth during his spell at Derby, relying heavily on Harry Wilson, Tom Lawrence and Chelsea loanees Fikayo Tomori and Mount to guide the Rams to the play-off final. Whether youth will do the job again at Chelsea remains to be seen.