Jose Mourinho says 'time will tell' about Lampard's coaching career; praises Chelsea youth

As far as the numbers go, Jose Mourinho is still Chelsea's greatest manager, and one of his most reliable generals at the club, Frank Lampard, is the Blues' new boss. It's safe to say they're both fan favourites. At some point, someone was going to ask the former manager about Lampard's appointment at Chelsea, and Mourinho gave an answer similar to when he was asked about Didier Drogba's signing for Chelsea in 2004.

Asked by Sky Sports about his thoughts on Lampard as Chelsea manager, Mourinho said,

"You know, time will see. Only time. It would be nice and easy for me to say, because I love him, that he's going to be a phenomenal manager.

"It would be very nice for me to say, but I'm not going to say that, and I cannot also say I don't believe he's going to do it, because that's not the way I feel. I feel that he has a potential, I feel that he loves, which is a very important thing, he loves - that's the reason why he is there - and I wish him the best but only time can speak and in a few years we will see."

Though Lampard's former manager is seemingly reserving judgement on him taking over as the Blues boss, the reluctance suggests that he has his doubts about the level of success the former England and Chelsea midfielder can achieve at the club.

The opening game of the Premier League season brings two of Mourinho's former club's head to head. Speaking in the context of Chelsea vs Manchester United on opening day, Mourinho also spoke about his excellent record at opening games of the season, saying he never thought of it as the start of a marathon, but just that he "goes to the game". Treating the occasion as a big game rather than the start of a long campaign.

The youth at Chelsea

Mourinho spoke very highly of Kurt Zouma as well

Given Chelsea's predicament due to the transfer ban, previously signed Christian Pulisic and the re-signing of Mateo Kovacic have been the only two official deals at Stamford Bridge this summer. This situation has left Lampard relying mostly on the youth system to bring the likes of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham through to the first team.

When quizzed about playing youth with relation to Chelsea's situation, Mourinho opined that every manager would want to play youth from the club's academies, but it also depends on what the product of the academy is in every case.

Specifically speaking about Chelsea youth players, he believes the case is exemplified by Kurt Zouma, he said, "I think Chelsea is a very special club in relation to that. I just give an example: Chelsea needs a centre-back - Kurt Zouma! You don't need to buy, you don't need to spend. Zouma!

"He's champion of England, he played for Chelsea, played for Stoke in the Premier League, played for Everton in the Premier League, played for France. He's your player, he's on loan, where are you going to buy a better player than him? You already have him."

In the same vein, Mourinho also heaped praise on Tammy Abraham who scored 26 goals for Aston Villa last season. The 56-year-old said, "You want a young striker - Tammy Abraham! He's yours. He knows the club. He was made at the club, he was educated at the club. He was on loan, he played already some matches in the Premier League, he plays in the Championship but Championship at the highest level with the responsibility to play at a big club like Aston Villa. He's ready."

The Portuguese tactician added that Chelsea, who have been criticised for having 30-40 players on loan every season for nearly the last decade are now reaping the fruits of that system. He believes that the club holds all the answers and the only real "problem" they have is the obvious one - that they've lost an incredible player in Eden Hazard.