Derby County owner Mel Morris has told talkSPORT he expects Frank Lampard to leave the club and be appointed the new manager of Chelsea this week.
The Rams chief also confirmed the Championship club will now ‘accelerate’ their efforts to appoint a new boss to replace the former England midfielder.
Lampard has been excused from returning back for the start of Derby’s pre-season preparations, having been given extra time by the club to complete his talks with the Premier League club.
He was widely expected to be appointed the new Chelsea manager last week, but his post-season holiday meant talks were delayed.
But Morris has now confirmed Lampard and Chelsea have been given an ‘opportunity to finalise matters’ and admitted Derby are now stepping up their search for his successor.
Asked if Lampard’s move to Stamford Bridge is merely matter of time, Morris told talkSPORT host Jim White on Monday: “I’m assuming so.
“Obviously it’s a matter between Chelsea and Frank at this stage, but they’ve now got the opportunity to finalise matters.
Derby owner Mel Morris tells of his admiration for Frank Lampard as manager
“As we’ve said before, when Frank and I first met we discussed this very eventuality, the only difference is the timing of this.
“My belief at this point in time is that Frank and Chelsea need to have the time to finalise the transaction between them.
“You could say they’ve had plenty of time, but in fairness Frank was away on vacation – and a well-deserved one after a pretty tough season – and he didn’t come back until Friday, so I think that has been a big factor.”
Asked if Derby are now working behind the scenes to find a replacement for Lampard, Morris suggested they will look to make the appointment in time for their pre-season trip to Florida – where they will fly out to later this week ahead of their first friendly on July 10.
“He have [started looking for a new boss], and we will now accelerate those efforts,” added the Pride Park chief.
“Obviously there’s a lot of activity expected to go on during the course of this week. We’re still very keen to get something sorted out in terms of the forthcoming tour to Florida.”
