Former Chelsea star Frank Lampard has indicated that he is focused on the managerial role at Derby County amid the speculation linking him with the Blues job. The 40-year-old has done tremendously well during his debut season in management and he has the opportunity of propelling Derby to the Premier League, should they beat Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final.

Amidst this, there have been reports suggesting that he could take over at the helm at Chelsea this summer but Lampard has stressed that he is concentrating on the Rams duty for the moment, he said: “When I started out in management, people said; ‘Your dream must be to be Chelsea manager.’ It’s an easy link. My dream was to do as well as I can day in and day out to be successful. I can’t call that one. Those things happen or they don’t or whatever. My focus is completely on the here and now. I find it quite difficult because (Chelsea) have got a game coming up. More importantly for me we’ve got a game coming up before that.”

Maurizio Sarri has experienced a mixed debut season with Chelsea as the head coach and there have been numerous occasions through the campaign where the Italian has been criticised by the fans. As such, there are claims that the club may consider a change at the end of the season regardless of the outcome of the Europa League final against Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Lampard’s immediate focus would be on Derby, who are scheduled to face Aston Villa in the play-off final this weekend. Dean Smith’s team go into the game as the favourites after getting the better of Derby during both encounters during the normal league season, but Derby can’t be underestimated. Leeds United had similarly done the double over Derby during the league phase, but the Rams sprung the surprise against the Peacocks during the play-off semi-final where they won by a 4-3 aggregate score.