Jose Mourinho: Ex Chelsea boss says Frank Lampard was Premier League's best player

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho considers Frank Lampard to have been the "best player in the Premier League for one decade". The Portuguese coach managed the England international during two spells in charge of the west London club and has revealed where he places Lampard in the pantheon of the league's greatest players.

The 53-year-old said he considers Lampard to be a superior player to the likes of Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes, both of whom played alongside the Chelsea star at international level. "At Chelsea, in my first period, I had Frank Lampard, probably the best player in the Premier League for one decade," he told the Straits Times.

Mourinho has managed some of the biggest clubs in the world during his trophy-laden career, including Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, and he finds it impossible to name the best player he has ever coached.

"Who was my best player? It's so difficult to say and I coached some of the best players in the world," the former Chelsea boss, who left the club in December 2015, said. "I went to Inter [Milan], I had [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, I got [Javier] Zanetti. I got to Madrid, I had [Cristiano] Ronaldo. I come back to Chelsea and I find other top players.

"I have so many, they gave me so much, it's not fair to say this is the one. It's impossible to win so many things without the players so I respect all of them."