Frank Lampard's shock swoop?! Coventry manager's plans explained after ex-Premier League striker was spotted at club's training ground

Bamford ended his seven-year association with Leeds in August after being deemed surplus to requirements by manager Daniel Farke. After joining the Whites in 2018 from Middlesbrough, the 32-year-old scored 60 goals in 205 appearances for the club, helping them earn two promotions to the Premier League. After emerging as a key figure for Leeds under former boss Marcelo Bielsa, Bamford was called up to the England senior squad in 2021, earning his first and only cap in the 4-0 victory over Andorra in September of that year.

Confirming Bamford was not part of his plans for the 2025-26 season, Farke said in July: "I had a really open and honest conversation with Patrick, which was important. He knows how much I rate him as a player and I would have preferred a fit Patrick Bamford for the last two seasons.

"But he is a player who needs to be the main man. He needs an arm round the shoulder after some difficult seasons. I was not willing to tell him he was the main man at Premier League level.

"In the second day of pre-season, I got him into my office and told him he is not in my plans for the upcoming season.

"It would have been easy for me to hide behind the sporting director or wait until we got someone else in, but he has done so much for this club, he deserves respect and transparency.”

After initially being linked with a move to La Liga side Getafe which failed to materialise, Bamford’s hopes of finding a new club looked to have received a boost on Friday. According to The Telegraph’s Mike McGrath, the former Chelsea forward was spotted training with Coventry ahead of their clash with Watford on Saturday.

However, a new report in Coventry Live has since clarified that manager Lampard is simply allowing his former Chelsea team-mate to train at the club, and is not looking to bolster his attacking options. After joining Chelsea in 2012, Bamford only briefly rubbed shoulders with Lampard, embarking on a series of loan spells with the likes of Milton Keynes Dons, Derby County and Middlesbrough. During the same period, Lampard - Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer with 211 goals in all competitions - spent two more years at Stamford Bridge before ending his legendary spell at the club by joining Manchester City in 2014. After joining from West Ham in 2001, Lampard spent 13 years in total at Chelsea, lifting 11 major honours.

While Bamford’s future remains up in the air, Lampard and Coventry will be looking to maintain their lead at the top of the Championship when they entertain Watford. The Sky Blues are the only undefeated professional team in England, having recorded seven victories and four draws in the second tier. Lampard’s men - who were defeated by Sunderland in the Championship play-off semi-finals last season - have also scored an incredible 31 goals so far this term, with Haji Wright, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Milan van Ewijk and the currently-injured Jack Rudoni having caught the eye.

Asked if he is confident of keeping hold of Coventry’s prized assets when the January transfer window opens, Lampard said ahead of the Watford game: “Yeah, very confident because if we want to sustain what we’re doing we have to build on top of it, not take away from it.

"And I think it was a strength of ours in the last window that we managed to keep players that have improved a lot and that’s a great thing. Everyone’s happy with that. They have to enjoy being here and I get the feeling that they do at this moment.

“And if anything, in general, we’ll look to build if we want success because there are some areas of the squad where we have strong back-up and we can handle the rigours of the season with injuries etc and good competition.

“And there are some areas where we may look to move forward to become stronger. I think that’s the sign of a club that’s developing and wants to keep going with that strategy.”