Southampton midfielder Oriol Romeu has admitted that former Chelsea teammate and now manager Frank Lampard has what it takes to succeed in the hot seat.
In an interview with The Southern Daily Echo, the Spanish enforcer spoke about his time with the Blues before his move to the Saints where Romeu was training regularly with Lampard, with the duo winning both the FA Cup and Champions League in the 2011/12 season for the west London club.
Although Romeu was unable to break it into the first-team for Chelsea, making just 33 appearances in total as numbers from Transfermarkt show, the La Masia academy product spoke fondly of Lampard.
Romeu said: “He was such a good player and a good professional. It’s good to see him doing that role there because he was a good leader and an amazing professional.
The 28-year-old midfielder added with: “As a player, I don’t think there is much else to say because we all know what he did and how good he was. Now, as a manager, I think he can also step in and do a great job.”
The duo will meet each other for the first time since Lampard took over the reins as manager of Chelsea this summer, and it will be a match that plenty of Southampton fans will be hoping to get a result in.
With the Saints coming up short against a 10-man Tottenham side on the weekend, Ralph Hasenhuttl will be eager to get back to winning ways against Chelsea, who have been hit-and-miss this season as well as keeping just one clean sheet all campaign.
Southampton are keen to pick up points, and their performances against the likes of Manchester United and Spurs could seemingly push the Saints to a surprise result against Romeu’s former teammate.
