Chelsea defender Reece James has praised Frank Lampard on how he treats his players during training sessions.
The 20-year-old has had a fairly good season so far, having made 26 appearances in all competitions.
At the moment, he is still the second-choice right-back with captain Cesar Azpilicueta ahead of him.
But the former Wigan player of the season said the ankle injury that made him missed the entire pre-season made it tough for him at the beginning.
He told Chelsea’s official website: “Ever since I’ve been back from injury, it’s been going pretty well for me.
“Obviously in the early days it was tough getting some minutes because I was still coming back from quite a bad injury, but as the season’s gone on I feel like I’ve gradually got better and improved.”
James said he has always been a Chelsea fan and that Chelsea is “the club he wants to play for”.
He moved to West London when he was a kid and grew up not to far from Stamford Bridge.
“When I first supported them, it was people like Robben, Drogba, Cech and the gaffer that I looked up to,” he added.
James then explained how Lampard pushes his players in training.
He said: “Even now, as my manager, he’s great. He’s a man-to-man manager and he says what he thinks.
“If he thinks you should be doing more, or even if you’re doing well, he will pull you to one side and tell you that. I appreciate that about him.
“The way he’s been around me, and all the players for that matter, is very good.”
Lampard has built the bridge that helped the academy graduates such as James, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori make the steps into the senior squad.
There could be more to come as previously Faustino Anjorin and Ian Maatsen have been tipped to break into the first-team by Lampard himself.