After 27 years at the club, Edwards departs for a new challenge on Merseyside. He leaves Chelsea with our best wishes for the future and thanks for his years of service. His position on Thomas Tuchel’s coaching staff will not be replaced at this time. A former schoolboy player with the Blues, Edwards has enjoyed a remarkable rise through the coaching ranks since being released at the age of 16. After initially starting work with the youngest players in the Academy back in 2004, he was handed the reins of our Under-18s for a two-year spell from 2014/15, in which the FA Youth Cup was won twice.Edwards was soon promoted to lead coach of our development squad and guided the team into the semi-finals of the senior Checkatrade Trophy, where they were denied a place in the Wembley final after a penalty shoot-out defeat to Lincoln City. It remains the furthest any academy team has reached in the competition. The Under-19s went one step further, finishing as runners-up in the UEFA Youth League in successive seasons.

The 35-year-old was promoted to assistant coach with the men’s first team following the appointment of Lampard in the summer of 2019 and proved an invaluable asset as several of the young players he had previously worked with stepped up to the senior squad and thrived. He remained in the role under Tuchel and was part of the German’s backroom team as we won the Champions League in Porto last May.