Frank Lampard will be absent from Derby County's training ground as the club return to pre-season this morning.
The Rams begin their preparations for the new season under a cloud of uncertainty regarding Lampard's future, with the 41-year-old continuing to be linked with a move back to his former side Chelsea.
The Blues were given permission to talk to Lampard over their vacant manager's job last week, but nothing has been finalised yet.
With the situation dragging on, Derby have given their head coach two days off to resolve his future.
The Rams' playing squad have returned to Moor Farm for pre-season training this morning, but according to our sister title DerbyshireLive, neither Lampard, his assistant, Jody Morris, or first-team coach, Chris Jones, will be present.
The club issued a statement regarding the situation.
"Derby County Football Club has excused Frank Lampard from reporting back for pre-season training on Monday and Tuesday to allow his discussions regarding a potential move to Chelsea to be concluded as soon as possible," it reads.
"The first few days of pre-season training will be focused on fitness training and will continue as planned under the guidance of the fitness, medical, conditioning and sports science teams at the club's training centre.
"On the assumption that Frank will reach an agreement with Chelsea to become their new manager, the club shall step up its efforts to find a replacement manager."
The former England international was originally expected to be in today, but as the statement suggests, they appear to be very much planning for life after Lampard, who has two years left on his deal.
This means that the Rams are suffering a contrasting summer to Leeds United, following the two sides' Championship play-off semi-final clash.
After losing the play-off final the Rams have seen a number of key loanees depart and are bracing for the loss of their head coach, while Leeds were quickly able to finalise a contact extension for Marcelo Bielsa and are now set for a busy upcoming week in the transfer market, with the players already having a week of pre-season training under their belts.
