With Neil Lennon finally walking away from his role as Celtic manager, it came as a surprise.

That shouldn’t really be a sentence when you consider how poor their campaign has been. Yet, with the Northern Irishman staunchly defending his position, it looked like he’d stay for as long as possible.

Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell now have a big challenge to find the next man for the job. A host of names have been linked in recent weeks from Roberto Martinez and John Terry to David Wagner and Mick McCarthy.

Yet, another name has been Frank Lampard. The 42-year-old was sacked as Chelsea boss earlier this year and is a free agent. With that in mind, it would be much easier to lure him to Glasgow than someone like Martinez or Terry.

Watching him compete against Steven Gerrard would be an enthralling battle at the top of the SPFL but there is another underlying narrative brewing at Celtic.

There are a host of issues plaguing the club right now, one of which lies within the usage of academy players. It was very rare under Lennon for the club to select their best youth prospects, and as a result, a number are potentially departing the club.

Cameron Harper could be on the verge of a move to New York Red Bulls while it looks incredibly unlikely that Karamoko Dembele will stay. He is out of contract in the summer and is yet to sign a new deal.

Reports (via The Sun) state he probably won’t put pen to paper either. Although the 18-year-old has rarely played for the senior team, he’s still undeniably their most exciting talent coming through.

With the arrival of Lampard, however, they could finally convince Dembele to stay in Glasgow. At the moment, he clearly doesn’t see a way of getting into the Celtic first-team and who can blame him?

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Though, the English boss’ arrival would only be good news for the young players at Parkhead; namely Dembele.

Lampard may have eventually failed at Stamford Bridge but if there was one thing to give him credit for, it was his usage of academy players. Chelsea have traditionally been a club that have opted for big money signings over blooding their stars of tomorrow.

Though, Lampard changed that. The likes of Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount rose to prominence under the former midfielder at Derby before they got their chance at Chelsea the following campaign. Tammy Abraham and Reece James also became key parts of a side that fielded the fourth-youngest squad in the Premier League last term with an average age of just 24.3.

Lampard has shown himself to be a terrific mentor for young players and if anyone can finally help Dembele make a long-lasting first-team breakthrough at Celtic, it would be him.

AND in other news, Christie could be in trouble if Celtic hire 57 y/o coach "reminiscent to Craig Brown"...