Mateo Kovacic has opened up on how he intends to perfect his all-round midfield game under the tutelage of Frank Lampard.
The Chelsea midfielder has enjoyed an impressive season at Stamford Bridge and established himself as one of the Blues' key players.
And the Croatia international has explained how he believes he could improve even further working with Lampard.
The Blues head coach returned to Stamford Bridge last summer as he replaced Maurizio Sarri who took over at Serie A giants Juventus after Max Allegri opted to take a year out of the game.
Despite Lampard's lack of experience, his one season at Derby County - in which he led the Rams to the Championship play-off final - was enough to convince Roman Abramovich that he was the right man for the job.
With the current season suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, it remains to be seen if the Blues' gamble to appoint Lampard pays off.
Sitting fourth in the Premier League table as well as in the FA Cup quarter-final would suggest the ex-England international is doing a fine job having signed a single player across two transfer windows.
A transfer ban was already in place prior to his appointment, while the club opted against doing any business in January amid links to the likes of Timo Werner, Jadon Sancho and Moussa Dembele among others.
One player who was able to seal a move to Chelsea before the ban came into effect was Kovacic as his loan deal from Real Madrid was made permanent before Lampard was officially appointed.
And the Croatia international was immediately impressed with Lampard's methods on the training pitch.
"We had a quite good year under Maurizio Sarri, winning the Europa League, in the end he left and Frank Lampard came to the team," Kovacic said on Instagram.
"I think from the first moment our feeling was good. I liked the way he was training us, really hard training, I liked his character, how he was speaking to the team.
"And I think I can learn a lot from him because all the things I am missing from my game - scoring goals and being more direct, this is the thing Lampard was amazing at in his career.
"So he's a great manager, a great person and I think I can learn a lot from him during my time here."
