FRANK LAMPARD reportedly turned down a job offer from another club last summer to take charge of his beloved Chelsea.
The 42-year-old earned rave reviews in his first year as a manager after guiding Derby to the Championship play-off final, where they were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa.
And the Blues – who crashed out of Europe on Saturday after losing 7-1 over two legs to Bayern Munich – were quick to bring him back to Stamford Bridge after Maurizio Sarri left to take charge of Juventus.
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The likes of Massimiliano Allegri and Laurent Blanc were linked with the West Londoners, but they instead took a huge risk in appointing the inexperienced Lampard.
Despite many writing off Chelsea at the start of the season, Lampard steered his side into fourth spot – while his team also finished as runners-up in the FA Cup.
But it could have been a very different path for Lampard, with The Athletic stating that the three-time Premier League winner had a job proposal from another club.
A source told them: "Frank was happy at Derby and could have stayed there, but people forget there was no need for him to have gone into management altogether.
"He was a very successful and respected pundit on television before that. Lampard is a clever man.
"He is very wealthy, not just from earnings as a player but he has invested in a lot of business ventures. Put it this way, he doesn’t have to work again. He is not in this for the money.
“What is less known is that another club came in for him last year and offered a very exciting project. But he couldn’t turn Chelsea down.
"Obviously, the connection was very strong and even though it came early in his coaching career, he didn’t want to run the risk of the opportunity not coming up again.
"Lampard knew there would be pressure from day one at Chelsea, but he loved it as a player and he loves it as a coach. He thrives on it.”
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