Derby excuse Lampard from first two days of pre-season

While there has been no update on Frank Lampard's appointment as Chelsea's next manager by ITKs and journalists apart from the, "it's definitely happening but we don't know when", Derby County have taken it upon themselves to save our sanity.

Today, Derby have released an official statement saying that the Rams have excused Frank Lampard from reporting back to preseason training today (and tomorrow) to help facilitate his transfer to Chelsea. Such nice guys!

Here is their statement in entirety:

"Derby County Football Club has excused Frank Lampard from reporting back for pre-season training on Monday and Tuesday to allow his discussions regarding a potential move to Chelsea to be concluded as soon as possible.

"The first few days of pre-season training will be focused on fitness training and will continue as planned under the guidance of the fitness, medical, conditioning and sports science teams at the club’s Training Centre.

"On the assumption that Frank will reach an agreement with Chelsea to become their new manager, the club shall step up its efforts to find a replacement manager."

-Source: Derby County

While Derby's training has already begun as of 1st July, Chelsea's preseason will begin on 5th July and it'll certainly be great to have the manager in place before that happens to avoid a repeat of what happened last season when Maurizio Sarri didn't get a whole preseason with the squad.

Whether Lampard's appointment is done before preseason or not, one thing's for sure, Derby have been professional and courteous throughout this whole process and have only solidified their relationship with Chelsea. Send them more loanees!

Hopefully, this whole thing will be done sooner rather than later but that's just wishful thinking at this point.