‘We disliked each other’ – Chelsea released Frank Lampard due to bitter feud with ex-Arsenal star

Chelsea fans will have acknowledged that all good things do actually come to an end on June 2, 2014.

It was the day on which Frank Lampard announced that he would be leaving the club after 13 glittering years in west London.

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Joining from boyhood club West Ham, Lampard became a three-time Premier League champion and Champions League winner at Chelsea.

The midfielder also crowned himself as the all-time record goalscorer at Stamford Bridge with an incredible 211 goals in 648 appearances.

Lampard joined Petr Cech, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba in a Blues spine that helped deliver unwavering success to the club.

But at the end of the 2013/14 season, Chelsea named him on their list of players who would be released in the upcoming summer.

A statement confirming an exit from Lampard himself followed, and he eventually joined Manchester City on loan from New York City FC.

Chelsea looked for a replacement and swiftly turned to Spaniard Cesc Fabregas, who starred for rivals Arsenal before a move to Barcelona.

The creative midfielder signed a five-year contract on June 12 that year and won the first of two Premier League titles in his first season.

A midfield pairing of Lampard and Fabregas would have been a sight to behold but one that remains, perhaps unfortunately, hypothetical.

In fact, Lampard was asked about playing alongside him on BT Sport, now TNT Sports, during an interview in 2017.

He revealed that his departure helped pave the way for Fabregas to become the next midfield star at Chelsea.

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“We never played together! They let me go to get Cesc in,” he said.

“Me and Cesc never really got on well on the pitch so they didn’t think we could share a dressing room.”

Lampard vs Fabregas – The on-pitch rivalry

Given they played for Chelsea and Arsenal respectively, Lampard and Fabregas weren’t exactly on the greatest of terms during matches.

During the 2007 League Cup final, which the Blues won 2-1, the pair clashed and needed to be separated amid a feisty melee.

Five years later in a Champions League semi-final second leg match between Barcelona and Chelsea, it was a similar story.

Lampard and Fabregas appeared to trade verbal blows as the Camp Nou before the Blues dramatically went through 3-2 on aggregate.

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Speaking to The Telegraph in 2020, Fabregas recalled: “It’s completely true [that we fell out], we don’t have to hide anything, I think he will tell you the same thing.

“We have had many, many battles during the years and we kind of disliked each other on the football pitch because he wanted to play and win for Chelsea and I wanted to win for Arsenal.

“The League Cup final was kind of crazy. We were losing 2-1 and it was basically the last moment of the game and you feel a little frustrated.

“[John Obi] Mikel and Kolo Toure went into a tackle and both got sent off. Me and Frank had a moment there.

“I think maybe I was very young and very enthusiastic. I wanted to beat the world basically and sometimes I was overwhelmed by the situation and went over the top.”

Their paths almost crossed again in 2014, this time at Chelsea, but it was a case of one door closing and another one opening.

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Fabregas scored 22 goals and assisted 57 others over four-and-a-half seasons at the club, doing so in 198 appearances.

Lampard retired at the beginning of 2017 following his stint in New York, ending a career that made him a legend in world football.

However, they reunited the following year and appeared to put their on-pitch differences aside.

“We met each other at the World Cup in Russia working for the BBC and we went to the gym together,” Fabregas said.

“We were having lunch together and that was when he had just signed for Derby [as manager], and I was asking him questions about how he saw the situation and he was explaining his plans a little bit.”

Where are Lampard and Fabregas now?

Both players chose to remain in football upon retirement by turning to coaching, with Lampard the first to do so.

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He joined Derby as manager in 2018 and took them to the Championship play-off final, where they lost 2-1 against Aston Villa.

After one season at Pride Park, Lampard returned to Chelsea as their new head coach.

Despite having a transfer ban and losing the legend Eden Hazard in his first campaign, he finished fourth in the Premier League.

But the Blues great was dismissed at the start of 2021 following a poor run of form, and joined Everton 12 months later.

The Toffees avoided relegation with Lampard at the helm, although chose to part ways with him after one year together.

Lampard had a brief second stint at Chelsea as their caretaker boss at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

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He is now at Coventry City, and has them sitting at the Championship summit with 12 wins from 17 matches.

They are on 40 points and ten clear of Stoke City following a huge 4-2 win over promotion rivals Middlesbrough during the week.

Fabregas commenced his managerial journey at Italian side Como, for whom he made 17 appearances at the end of his playing career.

The 2010 World Cup winner was their U19s and B team head coach at first before taking interim charge of the senior side.

Como made Fabregas their permanent head coach in July 2024, and they finished 6th in the Serie A table.

They currently occupy that spot after 12 matches in their 2025/26 campaign, winning five and losing just one.

Fabregas and co. are just three points outside of the top four with Champions League qualification in their sights.