It's 18 years to the day that Chelsea signed Frank Lampard from West Ham United.

The Blues won a race to sign him, with both Leeds United and Aston Villa also in the running.

Leeds, in particular, would have fancied their chances after finishing 4th in 2001, two places higher than Chelsea.

But Lampard reportedly wanted to stay in London, making Chelsea an always likely destination.

"Hopefully I can test myself against the best players in Europe and we can contest for trophies," he said on arrival.

"The chance of European football and working with a well-respected coach [Claudio Ranieri] will bring my game on."

18 years on, we can say that Lampard is probably the greatest signing in Chelsea's history.

He's their all-time record goalscorer with 211 - an incredible feat, considering he was a central midfielder.

He won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, a Europa League, and lifted Chelsea's sole Champions League as captain in 2012.

In total, he spent 13 years with Chelsea, played 648 games, scored 211 goals, won 13 honours, and was named their Player of the Season on three occasions - another record.

And now, 18 years on from initially signing, they may be about to do it all again.

Chelsea hope to sign Lampard once more this summer, as a replacement for Juventus-bound Maurizio Sarri.

It comes after one year of management for the 40-year-old, spent with Derby County.

He reached the Championship Play-Off final in his sole season with the Rams thus far, but it looks as though he's bringing his time there to a premature end in order to return home.