John Terry has credited Frank Lampard for the success of Mason Mount and Reece James at Chelsea.
Lampard gave Mount and James their Chelsea debuts in 2019, and the duo went on to enjoy breakthrough seasons at Stamford Bridge.
Mount, 22, and James, 21, have continued to impress this term, with the Blues reaching the finals of the Champions League and FA Cup under Lampard’s replacement, Thomas Tuchel.
Terry has praised Lampard for reaching out to Tuchel following his sacking in January and says his former teammate deserved credit for helping Mount and James thrive at the club.
He told The Times: ‘[I’ll be] on holiday [for the Champions League final]. I won’t be at the game. It’s a huge moment for the club.
‘It’s very disappointing what’s happened to Frank. The respect he has for Thomas [Tuchel] and reaching out to him is Lamps all over.
‘As a Chelsea man, I naturally want Chelsea to win the Champions League. Frank was a big part of that.
‘The group he had was incredible, look at Mason [Mount] and Reece James and where they are, that was down to Frank. Thomas has thanked Frank for that.’
Tuchel paid tribute to Lampard in a press conference earlier this month and hailed his predecessor for ‘laying the foundations’ for Chelsea’s success.
‘You can only arrive in the final of the FA Cup or a Champions League final if you make it to the group stage,’ Tuchel said.
‘Frank has an amazing record in the group stage of the Champions League, he won all FA Cup games that were there to win.
‘This lays the foundation to arrive in the finals and I will never forget that it’s like this and we don’t feel ashamed to speak about it because it’s the way it is and it felt like this since the first day I came here.
‘I was well aware Frank created his own legacy here, well deserved as a player and then he started to try to even make it bigger as a coach and still it had nothing to do with me.
‘We are well aware we stepped in halfway through the season and tried to fulfil the job he begun.’
While Chelsea fell short of FA Cup glory – losing 1-0 to Leicester City in the final – they could still end the season in style, facing Premier League champions Manchester City in next weekend’s Champions League final.
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