Lampard is 90 minutes away from ending Derby County’s 11-year exile from the Premier League and can crown his first season in management, by beating Aston Villa in the £180million Championship play-off final on Monday.
It is believed that Chelsea want their former midfielder to replace under-pressure Maurizio Sarri, after Wednesday’s Europa League final against Arsenal.
But hiss former England team-mate Bent, who played for both Derby and Villa, believes he would be better-served staying at Pride Park for another year, irrespective of whether the Rams go up or not.
“Frank has done a fantastic job, especially the way he’s kept them believing when it looked like they were going to fall short of the towards the end of the season.
“That’s a fine achievement for a first-time manager in his first year doing the job. I know there are Chelsea fans who would put him in charge at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, and I would agree that Frank is destined to manage at the top level.
“But you are talking about a different animal at Chelsea – the step up is massive. We’ve seen a lot of managers, who have been around a lot longer than Frank has, go there and fail. And we know it’s not a forgiving club, patience wears thin pretty quickly, and if you aren’t winning trophies within a year or 18 months, usually you’re out the door.
“I would like to think that whether or not Derby are promoted on Monday, another year is not going to do him any harm in the long run,” Bent told the UK Mirror.
