Frank Lampard has been sacked from his role as Chelsea manager.
The Blues icon has left Stamford Bridge after just 18 months in charge, with the former Borussia Dortmund and PSG coach due to take over.
Frank Lampard has been sacked from his role as Chelsea manager and will be replaced by former Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel.
Lampard had been in charge for just over 18 months, but leaves following five defeats in the last eight games.
He will be replaced by Tuchel, with Goal understanding that a verbal agreement as been in place between Chelsea and their incoming manager for a couple of days before the news of Lampard's departure became public.
Lampard led Chelsea to a 3-1 win over Luton Town in the FA Cup on Sunday, but the club's Premier League form has led to growing concerns.
The 42-year-old achieved a top-four finish last season, which was deemed impressive having taken over when the club were under a transfer ban.
However, this season Chelsea spent £220 million ($275m) on new signings to try and close the gap on Liverpool and Manchester City.
It hasn't worked, with Timo Werner and Kai Havertz suffering prolonged periods of poor form under their new manager while Chelsea's performances as a team were increasingly getting worse.
Club chairman Bruce Buck watched on with technical and performance advisor Petr Cech as Leicester City ran out comfortable 2-0 winners against Lampard's side in their most recent league fixture.
The loss to Brendan Rodgers' men was just the latest of a series of defeats against the Premier League's best teams, which recently included reverses against Manchester City and Arsenal.
Chelsea have only beaten West Ham of the top 11 clubs this season, while picking up the second-lowest number of points at this stage of a season since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
Lampard earned 1.67 points per match in the league, which is the lowest of any manager appointed since Abramovich bought Chelsea.
There can never be a good time to part ways with a club legend such as Frank, but after lengthy deliberation and consideration it was decided a change is needed now to give the club time to improve performances and results this season.”
A 14-game unbeaten run across two months from early October prompted talk of a title challenge but Chelsea’s fortunes have dipped markedly and a 2-0 defeat at Leicester on Tuesday was fresh evidence of their inability to beat the Premier League’s most accomplished sides.
Chelsea beat Luton 3-1 in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday but it was not enough to save Lampard’s job with qualification for the Champions League a key priority. Chelsea are ninth in the league, five points behind fourth-placed Liverpool. Defeats by Arsenal on Boxing Day and Manchester City on 3 January led to serious doubts over Lampard’s future and the owner, Roman Abramovich, has now decided to act.