Lampard leaving Chelsea helped him as a manager – Pellegrini

Frank Lampard’s decision to leave Chelsea as a player has helped him as a manager, according to West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini.

Lampard has overseen a decent start to the season for Chelsea, who are fourth in the Premier League ahead of Saturday’s clash against West Ham.

Pellegrini was in charge of Manchester City for Lampard’s only campaign at the club in 2014-15 after the former England international decided to end a 13-season stay at Stamford Bridge.

The Chilean, whose team are just three points clear of the relegation zone, said that decision was a good one for Lampard.

“When you want to be a manager you must want to learn as much as you can,” Pellegrini told reporters.

“During your career as a player, you see different people who manage the club in different ways and play different football. You can win titles in a number of different ways, and you choose one of those.

“For Frank Lampard, it was a very good experience for his career not to have been always at Chelsea. I know he started with West Ham, but for the most part of his professional career he was at Chelsea.

“To go to Manchester City, to see another way of playing football, that helped him to improve as a manager and I’m very happy for him.

“Every player tries to learn from the way you work. Of course, [as a player] you are always talking with different players, but I think you learn more from seeing.”

 The key points from Frank’s pre-West Ham press conference today… #CHEWHU pic.twitter.com/5yLG76n14x

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 29, 2019

Lampard said he had taken plenty from managers, including Pellegrini, later in his career.

“As I got older as a player I was probably more attentive of a manager’s nature and things they said, how they held meetings and things like that,” he said, via The Telegraph.

“It was always something you put into the bank and think, well, that could be how I want to do it or not.”