Former Chelsea star aims dig at Maurizio Sarri

Gary Cahill has joked ‘it was a shame’ Frank Lampard wasn’t in charge of Chelsea last season instead of Maurizio Sarri after completing a move to Crystal Palace this summer.

The 33-year-old defender was frozen out of the side by Sarri and only played 22 minutes across the 2018/19 Premier League campaign before bringing an end to a seven-and-a-half year spell at Stamford Bridge.

Cahill says his final year under Sarri was a ‘horrible’ experience and admits he would have relished the chance to work with Lampard again after they shared a dressing room for two-and-a-half years at Chelsea, report the Metro.

‘It’s a shame he [Lampard] wasn’t in last year when I was there,’ Cahill told talkSPORT.

‘No, I’m only joking. It would have been very interesting to work under him, especially when you’ve played with him and know what he’s like, it would have been an experience I would have relished.

‘Leaving Chelsea was sad, but naturally everything has to come to an end.’

The ex-England international added: ‘It was certainly the right time for me to go from that club and I have nothing but positive things to say about the club.

‘There’s no issue there. It was just naturally the right time to go.

‘Every single year I’ve made many, many appearances throughout my career, and last year I made hardly any, so that tells it all and that it was the right time to go.’