Frank Lampard has returned to the Chelsea dugout two years after he was sacked when the club was languishing in ninth.
The former Blues captain signed a number of high-profile players during his first spell as manager at Stamford Bridge, most notably Germany international Kai Havertz in a deal worth £70million, as well as Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell.
Lampard also landed two players on a free transfer, both centre-backs from Ligue 1 - Malang Sarr from Nice and Thiago Silva from Paris Saint-Germain, with the latter quickly becoming, and to this day remaining, one of Chelsea's most important players.
After Silva penned his contract with Chelsea, Lampard sent the centre-back a photo of them together at the Maracana, where England drew 2-2 with Brazil in a friendly in 2013.
Silva opened up about the gift in an interview with FourFourTwo, revealing what the gesture meant to him.
"As soon as I said yes, he sent me a picture of us both shaking hands as national team captains in 2013," he said. "It was a nice surprise.
"He understood exactly what I needed at this stage of my career, probably because he had made a similar move when he was also 36, from Chelsea to Manchester City.
"I didn't think twice when I heard Chelsea were interested in me – not only because of their history but also because Willian and David Luiz invariably spoke highly of them.
"Marina [Granovskaia, club director] called me after I'd agreed, then passed me on to Frank. It was through a translator because I still don't speak English and his accent was even tougher for me!"
Silva would go on to repay the gesture further, long after Lampard was sacked and replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who led Chelsea to Champions League glory against Manchester City in Porto.
Shortly after winning the trophy, Silva sent Lampard a text message thanking the Englishman for signing him.
Lampard, reflecting on watching Chelsea win the Champions League final after being sacked, told Gary Neville on the Overlap: "I found it tough watching that game.
"But when I walk around the streets here I had so many Chelsea fans come up to me: 'You were a part of that' and 'Did you enjoy that?' and I'm like 'Yeah'.
"But when I got over that feeling I felt a sense of, it has been my club for a long time and always will be and I can take some happiness from players like Mason [Mount] and Reece [James].
"Thiago Silva sent me a beautiful message after the game sort of saying 'Thanks for bringing me to the club' and all this happened and when it settles you can absolutely look at that with a much more positive eye than the football side can sometimes take you."
While Silva's words may mean little on the surface, they suggest Lampard is well respected in the Blues' dressing room - and is so by a player as influential as the Brazilian.
This should make Lampard's job of steadying the ship at Stamford Bridge somewhat more manageable before a new boss comes in in the summer and replaces the Englishman permanently.
