Derby County announced ex-Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard as their new manager on Thursday morning. The 39-year-old has signed a three-year deal at the Championship side and replaces Gary Rowett who left the club to join Stoke City a matter of days ago.
Lampard has said that he is “excited and nervous” about the challenge ahead of him. The Rams have been knocking on the door of the Premier League for the last couple of years but have always failed at the final hurdle. It will now be Lampard’s job to get them over the line.
One of Lampard’s first jobs will be sorting out his squad ahead of the upcoming campaign. The Rams have invested heavily in recent times which has resulted in a huge squad of players. It has been speculated that the club will have to cut their wage bill to avoid falling foul to Financial Fair Play rules this summer.
Here are five players that Frank Lampard could look to move on from the club to ensure that he has room to manoeuvre in the transfer market.
4George Thorne
Under the management of Steve McClaren in the 2013/14 campaign, George Thorne was arguably the Rams’ most influential player having been on loan from West Bromwich Albion at the time. He almost helped the club gain promotion to the top flight, agonisingly losing 1-0 to Queens Park Rangers in the play-off final at Wembley. However, ever since he made that move a permanent one the same summer, his time at the club has been plagued by injury meaning that he has struggled to reach the same heights. The Championship is an unforgiving league, and Thorne may be better off moving on.
