Premier League: Lampard pulls out of Norwich talks

Frank Lampard has dropped out of the running to replace Daniel Farke as the new Norwich head coach.

The former England international, 43, held talks with Norwich earlier this week.

It is understood he was among a number of candidates, including former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith, the club have spoken to about the post.

Smith is currently on a break in the United States but is understood to have spoken with Norwich before he left.

The former Brentford boss was dismissed by Villa on Sunday after a run of five successive league defeats, with Villa 16th in the table.

Lampard has been out of management since his 18-month spell in charge of Chelsea ended last January.

Norwich are bottom of the Premier League with five points from 11 games, with their next match against Southampton on 20 November.

Farke was dismissed despite victory over Brentford last Saturday, the club’s first league win of the campaign.

The club’s players returned to training on Friday, with head of football development Steve Weaver taking the session.

Lampard guided Chelsea to fourth place and the FA Cup final in his one full season in charge, and a u early December 2020 put the club top of the Premier League, but he was dismissed the following month as they dropped to ninth place.

He did not sign a single player during his first season as the club were operating under a transfer embargo, but spent more than £200m on seven major arrivals in the summer of 2020, including £45m on Leicester’s Ben Chilwell and £71m on midfielder Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen.

Before taking charge at Chelsea, Lampard spent one season in charge at Derby, guiding them to the Championship play-off final, where they lost to Aston Villa.