Exclusive: The clause blocking Crystal Palace move for Frank Lampard | OneFootball

The Eagles are keen on Lampard, but a move for the Coventry City boss looks difficult

Crystal Palace have faced a massive stumbling block in their attempts to try and appoint Frank Lampard as Oliver Glasner's successor at Selhurst Park, Football League World can exclusively reveal.

The Eagles are on the hunt for a new manager due to Glasner turning down the chance to remain at the south London outfit when his contract expires at the end of the season - even though he may lead them to the UEFA Europa Conference League title if they can get past Shakhtar Donetsk and then one of Strasbourg or Rayo Vallecano.

Therefore, the Palace hierarchy are on the hunt for a fresh face to lead the club into the next era, and whilst there doesn't appear to be a clear front-runner for that job, they are real admirers of the aforementioned Lampard - especially after what he has done with Coventry City.

Hired by the Sky Blues in November 2024 after Doug King sacked the long-serving Mark Robins, Lampard guided Cov from 16th in the Championship standings last season and into the play-offs, where they were cruelly dumped out at the semi-final stage by a last-minute extra time goal by eventual promotion winners Sunderland.

The Coventry squad dusted themselves down though, as well as Lampard, and they've romped to the second tier title in 2025-26, as they currently sit on 92 points with just one more match left to get through.

Frank Lampard issue emerges for Crystal Palace as Eagles eye ex-England international

Interest is swirling in the former England international though for the job he has done at the CBS Arena, and FLW understands that whilst Crystal Palace are one of the clubs that very much has Lampard on their radar, there is one big issue stopping any deal from happening.

It is understood that Lampard has a significant compensation clause within the contract he signed at Coventry back in 2024 - one which hasn't been renewed yet - and it has put Palace chairman Steve Parish off making any official approach for his services.

Just how substantial that figure is is not entirely known, but it appears that Doug King has moved shrewdly to make sure that rival clubs are scared off when it comes to trying to poach Lampard from the Midlands outfit.

That means for the time being at least, Lampard is set to guide Coventry into their first Premier League campaign for 25 years, unless a club capable of paying the compensation figure that is within his contract comes in and can tempt the 47-year-old away from the job he is doing at City.

How long is Frank Lampard under contract at Coventry City until?

When penning his contract nearly 18 months ago at Coventry, Lampard perhaps didn't expect to be so successful in such a short period of time after being out of the game for well over a year following his 2023 caretaker stint with Chelsea.

With a 54.3 per cent win record though, Lampard has very much raised his reputation once more after somewhat struggling with Everton prior to his short-term return to Stamford Bridge, and Coventry will surely be very much keen to tie him down to a new contract.

That is because Lampard has just one season remaining on the deal he first signed at the club, which has not yet been renewed, meaning in the summer of 2027, as of now, he would become a free agent.