Frank Lampard green lights £88m Chelsea transfer reunion after signing son of ex-teammate

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Frank Lampard could be set for a reunion with Mykhailo Mudryk after Coventry City made contact with Chelsea about his availibility. The newly-promoted side are one of three Premier League sides to have reached out.

Lampard coached the Ukrainian winger during his spell in charge of the Blues in 2023 and now has the possibility of utilising his services once again but in more positive circumstances. The Chelsea icon led Coventry to the Championship title last season in his first role since a difficult second stint in the Stamford Bridge dugout when he replaced Graham Potter on an interim basis.

Mudryk, meanwhile, has made his return to football , having not played since November 2024 against Heidenheim. The 25-year-old tested positive for meldonium but the FA has now ended its anti-doping proceedings after Mudryk accepted breaching anti-doping rules.

The parties agreed to a suspension equal to the one year and eight months already served by the ex-Shahktar Donetsk player. His return has led to no shortage of interest, with three Premier League teams and three more from Europe making contact about Mudryk's future.

The Chelsea speedster, who signed for the Blues in a deal worth up to £88.5m , is in Hong Kong with the west London side as Chelsea's pre-season tour continues. Xabi Alonso gave little away about Murdyk's future.

"We need to see," he said. "It's too early to tell, to see how he is in terms of fitness, in terms of this game time that you need to be involved again, so it's still early to tell."

"We can expect that [it will take longer to get back to full fitness and sharpness]," Alonso added. "We have the Mudryk that [we had], it will take time, but once there is a change, things start moving, and for him it's a massive change.

"So he trained on his own every day, and I think it had to be really, really hard, because he wanted to play football, he wanted to be part of a team, and he was not allowed to do that for such a long time.

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"So once this big change has happened, now things will move on, and afterwards we will see if it's quicker, if it's slower, but we need to be aware of that."

It comes after Coventry added to Lampard's squad over the weekend. Teenage goalkeeper Jack Ruddy joined Coventry from Norwich.

Ruddy is the son of former Norwich and Newcastle United shotstopper John Ruddy, who left the Magpies at the end of last season. Lampard was team-mates with Ruddy senior on the international stage with both selected for England in 2021 for a win over Italy.