Frank Lampard says that Chelsea have no regrets about letting Declan Rice leave the club when he was a teenager.
The England midfielder was let go by the West London club when he was 14 and subsequently joined West Ham United, who travel across town to Stamford Bridge on Monday night.
Rice has established himself as an integral member of West Ham's side and Gareth Southgate's England. He was linked with moves to Manchester United and a return to Chelsea in the summer transfer window.
Lampard, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, said that the 21-year-old's bounceback from being rejected by his boyhood club is a personal success story but the Blues do not have any regrets over releasing him.
"He's a fantastic player for West Ham and England so fair play, because his journey there after leaving Chelsea and going to West Ham is a good story to hear," Lampard said.
"There are lots of stories like that and it shows the player's strength of character. From our end, I don't think I would regret it. Our academy is one of the best in the world. You look at our first team now and all the players we have produced who are in and around the squad, we have so many.
"It is not easy, it is not an exact science to pick and choose players but the academy works brilliantly here and brings through a lot of players. Declan Rice should give himself personal credit for having the great start to his career that he has had at West Ham."
Rice made his 100th league start in midweek for West Ham as they drew 1-1 at home to Crystal Palace. He has played more than 120 games in total since breaking into the first team at the end of the 2016/17 season.
The Chelsea head coach said that while there was extra motiviation for him as a player when he came up against his first club, that has changed since he moved into management.
"If I'm honest it did [matter more] when I played, as a manager and in my role now it doesn't," he said. "Maybe I've mellowed or something's changed, but also I focus on what's necessary for the club. Maybe I took it on me personally to really get up for that game against West Ham because I had played for them before.
"But now I don't, I just see it as another game, particularly off the back of two defeats for us, it's an important game just for us to approach in the way of wanting to get back to where we were before these two games."
