Norwich City are moving closer to naming Daniel Farke’s replacement after holding talks with Frank Lampard about becoming their manager.
Lampard is a leading contender to fill the vacancy and was interviewed on Thursday. The 42-year-old has been out of work since being fired by Chelsea last January and is interested in the position, although Norwich are yet to make a decision on whether to appoint him.
Norwich, bottom of the Premier League after 11 games, could still speak to other candidates. Dean Smith, sacked by Aston Villa on Sunday, has been linked. It remains to be seen whether Smith would prefer to take a break.
Whoever takes over at Norwich will be tasked with saving the team from relegation. Norwich, who sacked Farke after their victory over Brentford last Saturday, have struggled since promotion from the Championship.
Lampard has no experience of overseeing a relegation battle but he is keen to return to management. The former England midfielder started his coaching career at Derby in 2018 and almost took the club into the Premier League before joining Chelsea in 2019.
Chelsea were under a transfer embargo but Lampard did well in his first season at his former club. He promoted academy players, qualified for the Champions League after finishing fourth and reached the FA Cup final, losing to Arsenal.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhones or the Google Play store on Android phones by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the yellow button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
However, Lampard struggled to convince after Chelsea spent heavily in the summer of 2020 and he was replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who led the team to Champions League glory.
Lampard has been waiting for another opportunity and was overlooked by Crystal Palace last summer. He could try to take his former assistant Joe Edwards from Chelsea to his next job.
