FRANK Lampard enjoyed a career as decorated as the finest of Royal Crown Derby china.

So when the new Derby County manager felt Max Lowe – who had begun the Championship season in his starting XI – would be better served going on loan, the 21-year-old accepted it as a chance to shine.

Lowe signed a new three-year deal at Pride Park at the end of August then almost immediately headed north to Aberdeen until January.

While some youngsters may fear out of sight means out of mind, Lowe revealed Lampard is keeping an active role in how he fares at Pittodrie.

“Frank’s been great,” said Lowe of the Chelsea legend who won the Champions League, the Premier League title three times and earned 106 caps for England. “He’s played at the top level – no-one else can really compare to him. He’s been great with me since the first day of pre-season. I can pick [his brain] and learn from him.

“He’s ringing me after every game, giving me positive feedback. He watches the games every week so I’ll just keep listening to him.”

Lowe, who came through Derby’s academy and spent the latter half of last season on loan at Shrewsbury Town in League One, played in both Aberdeen’s home defeat to Kilmarnock and Saturday’s draw at St Johnstone, and describes the Scottish game as “proper men’s football”. The England under-20 international also revealed former St Johnstone midfielder Jody Morris was influential in his move to Derek McInnes’ side.

Morris, now Lampard’s assistant manager at Derby, played an integral part in aiding McInnes’ managerial success when he was at McDiarmid Park and was fulsome in his praise of Scottish football.

“I heard a lot of positive things,” said Lowe, insisting he had few concerns about moving to Scotland.

“Jody Morris has obviously worked with the gaffer before and was the main person I spoke to about Aberdeen and the Scottish league. I took it in my stride and see it as a positive in coming here and trying to get some games. I’ll try and learn from the likes of [Graeme] Shinnie, who has been fantastic with me. He’s played in the left-back position and Andy [Considine] as well, so I’ve just got to keep learning each day and hopefully improving my game.”

Lowe, who said “going forward” and “set pieces” are areas of his game he wants to get better at, may have limited experience of Scottish football but already feels that Aberdeen – who finished second last season but are eighth after five games this campaign – have become a target for other teams.

“Everyone’s up for us,” he said. “You can see from [Saturday] in the first-half [St Johnstone] were up for it and we weren’t, but I feel we can improve on that.”

One thing that should certainly help is the return of Scotland international Scott McKenna from injury.

They may have only played a game together, but Lowe says the £10m-rated defender, who managed the full 90 minutes in Perth, is very much his cup of tea.

“Scotty came in [on Saturday] and was solid,” said Lowe. “That’s the first time I’ve played with him and he was class.”