Our head coach has been crucial in allowing young talent at Chelsea to flourish this season but it appears his promotion of youth has been in his thinking for many years.

We’ve added a number of Chelsea ‘box sets’ to The 5th Stand app, which can be viewed at your leisure on the Watch section.

One such series is called ‘Icons’, with Lampard talking about the emergence of youth football and how he felt the Academy system could be improved. The interview below was shot in 2010 and highlights Lampard’s thoughts on the system in place.

Here is what Frank had to say on Academy football when speaking back in 2010...

‘It’s one of my biggest pet hates in football at the moment,’ said Lampard nine years ago in a sit-down interview that can be now watched in full exclusively on the Chelsea app. ‘I think the structure is all wrong beleow the first-team level for the young boys.

‘For me, there’s too much of a no-mans land between youth level and the first team. When the really good players at that age come and train with the squad, I think that’s really beneficial because you can gauge what level you are at.

‘I think there should be a more regular level of reserve football. There are a lot of other lads between the ages of 17 and 20 years of age who are just not playing. I think they can lose motivation, lose sight of where they want to be and lose that match fitness that you get from regular football.

‘For me, the system is wrong and I don’t know what the answer is but I want to see these young lads playing football.’

No surprise then to see our now head coach be bold enough to use young, hungry talent in his side so prominently, given how prophetically he spoke a decade ago.

Download the Chelsea app now and watch the full episode of ‘Icons’ with Lampard – and every other episode for that matter – for free.

You can also enjoy a number of other Chelsea box sets including ‘5th Stand originals’, ‘Greatest goalscorers’, ‘Retro Blues’ and ‘Champions League Years’ in full now.