Frank Lampard says he has plenty of respect for what Steven Gerrard did at Rangers - as he reveals the former Light Blues boss was a key man he spoke to when signing Nathan Patterson.
The Ibrox academy product joined the midfield legend's plans at Everton in January and last week made an impressive Premier League debut against Chelsea. Patterson will face his former boss this afternoon when the Goodison Park club take on Aston Villa, who Gerrard left Rangers for last year.
Lampard says he and his former England teammate have had conversations on management amongst other things, with Gerrard one person he took counsel from when looking to sign his promising Scottish right-back. The Everton manager told the Liverpool Echo: “We messaged each other and met up a few times through circumstances and chatted about the job. And every job is different, every job is consuming.
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"So we didn’t go into too much of it. I spoke to him when I came in here, and the experience of working with Nathan Patterson.
"I wanted to get his opinion about Pats. I respect Stevie’s word, on what he thinks about football and just generally."
Lampard added: "I think we are both very driven. We've both had a plan of what we want to do. Stevie's a hard-worker and I'm delighted he did so well at Rangers and now he's at a club with the quality of Aston Villa."
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