‘GENERAL’ LAMPS A BORN WINNER

his team Frank changed into a different person. He was not afraid to stick the boot in.

“But as soon as the match was finished he was enough of a gentleman to shake hands.

“Frank is someone who can always put things in perspective and knows what matters most in life.

“Football is important to him, but he knows when to put the emphasis on other things. That is a very important quality for a manager.”

Both Zenden and Lampard arrived in the same summer. The Dutchman’s stay at the club lasted just two seasons – while Lampard became Chelsea’s record goalscorer over the next 13 years.

Zenden added: “Frank came from West Ham and I had been at Barcelona, but as new boys and young players we both had to fight for a place in the team.

“Chelsea already had a lot of big names – Emmanuel Petit, Marcel Desailly and Gianfranco Zola.

“But one thing I soon noticed was that Frank could read the game better than anyone. On the pitch I called him ‘The General’ because he was a real strategist.

“Frank is also a born leader. You could see that in the way he grew into the player who controlled Chelsea’s midfield. He directed the play, like the conductor of an orchestra, but he also had an unbelievable hunger for goals and trophies.

“His development as a player was like a snowball rolling down a hill – getting bigger and bigger – and I can see that happening as a manager.”

Lampard has overcome a tough start to his Chelsea reign to guide the Blues into the top four of the Premier League.

And Zenden, who became Rafa Benitez’s assistant at Stamford Bridge when the Spaniard won the Europa League in 2013, got a close-up look at Chelsea’s youngsters when they beat Ajax 1-0 in Amsterdam in the Champions League earlier this month.

Lampard has put his faith in a group of young English players from Chelsea’s youth academy after being forced to work under a transfer ban that will be lifted next summer.

Zenden said: “Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-odoi and Fikayo Tomori would not have been given a chance under different circumstances. But they are doing much better than people expected.

“That is down to the quality of each of those players – but it is also a big credit to Frank for the way he is working with them.”