Frank Lampard Chelsea departure was no mistake says Jose Mouinho

Posted Monday, December 15, 2014 by ESPN

Frank Lampard Chelsea departure was no mistake says Jose Mouinho
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho discusses his team's performance which was 'good enough' for a 2-nil victory over Hull City.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted his club did not make a mistake by allowing Frank Lampard to leave Stamford Bridge last summer.

Lampard has emerged as a key figure in Manchester City's title challenge, with his goal in Saturday's 1-0 win against Leicester allowing the defending Premier League champions to stay just three points behind leaders Chelsea.

He also scored the equaliser when the top two played against each other at the Etihad Stadium in September, but Mourinho has stressed that his desire to move the club forward meant the moment was right to bring down the curtain on Lampard's 13-year Chelsea career.

"He left Chelsea as a free agent and chooses his life, we can't complain about it, that's football," Mourinho told reporters. "It's his life, nothing to do with us. We made the right decision.

"My view is that when you want to look forward, look to the future and have people like (Cesc) Fabregas and (Nemanja) Matic and Jeremie Boga (a midfielder with the under-21s) which are the next 10 years of the club.

"The project is to prepare for the next 10 years, not for the next year. We made the right decision.

"You can argue 'You have John Terry and Didier Drogba'. Different. Drogba is a striker that is coming to help and support the team. John Terry is the best central defender in English football and it doesn't matter how old he is.

"The nucleus of the team has to be developed and to have a big player like Frank we would stop the development of the other guys."