Lampard urges his old team to keep manager

FRANK LAMPARD has urged Chelsea to ensure manager Antonio Conte is kept out of the hands of Inter Milan and to tie down Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa to longterm contracts so that the current side can match the golden teams of the past 10 years.

Chelsea’s record goalscorer says that the club will ensure Conte stays – and that they need to do the same for star players to keep them out of the clutches of the likes of Real Madrid.

Lampard said: ‘We’ve all heard the stories about Inter Milan wanting Conte and I am sure the club will want to put that to bed as soon as possible.

‘The job he has done has been incredible and I think he will want to stay because he will want to take this team as far as possible. This is Antonio Conte’s team. They are his players.

‘He is from Italy, he’s proved himself to be a great manager, and Inter Milan now seem to have owners who are talking about big things. I don’t know the ins and outs, but I am sure Chelsea will do everything they can to keep Antonio happy.

‘They will want to reward him for this – as all top teams do. It’s not just the manager. There’s talk about Hazard, about Costa, about Courtois. But you can’t win titles or go into the Champions League without having top players who can make the difference. This year, players like Costa and Hazard have made that difference, so Chelsea will be desperate to keep them.’

And Lampard says that Conte is emulating the first Jose Mourinho era and has restored the club after the calamitous 2015-16, which saw Mourinho sacked. ‘The job Antonio Conte has done is different class,’ he said. ‘When Jose came in to the club he took over a team of boys and turned us into winners.

‘Antonio inherited a squad that had won the league two years before but were on a real downer, but he has done a similar job to Jose in many ways. They both brought an organisation to Chelsea, instilled a winning mentality.

‘Now the big test is for Chelsea to go again next year. Chelsea will have to improve – and they will do because they will have to deal with Champions League football. I hope it can be the next golden generation, but it is going to be hard for any team to dominate. Antonio will know that City, Liverpool, United and Tottenham are not going to stop challenging.’