As Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard decides to hang up his boots we look at the glittering career the Englishman has had over the past two decades in world football.
Hammers academy graduate:
Lampard started his career at the Hammers youth academy and played for five seasons under then. He was slowly but steadily showing his talents and everyone thought he would go on to play for the hammers for a very long time. But in the 2000-01 season, West Ham’s form detoriated very badly and then finished 15th in the table. As a result of which his father and his uncle, Harry Redknapp both left the club. As a result of which Lampard also decided to move on and eventually landed in Chelsea.
Player to a Legend:
It was in Chelsea that Lampard showed truly what he was capable of. He played for 13 years at the club and during that process he turned himself from a great player to a club legend. Then a certain Portugese arrived at the club, promising great success. And along with Lampard he delivered just that. Jose turned Chelsea from a a good team to juggernauts. And Lampard way at the heart of the revolution. Lampard went on to play 429 games for Chelsea and netted 147 goals in the process. He won everything there was to win during his time at Chelsea. But in 2014 Chelsea confirmed that Lampard would be leaving the club in the summer.
Playing in America, or maybe not?
Lampard was now a free agent and decided to sign a two year contract with New York City FC in the MLS. But soon after NYCFC’s parent club Manchester City announced that Lampard would be returning the EPL on a six month loan. And eventually he played for the whole of the season in England and in the process missing the MLS Season. this created an uproar in New York as fans claimed that they had been cheated and Lampard was just used for promotional purposes. And true to all the rumours, City admitted that Lampard had indeed signed a non-binding contract with NYCFC. This created a huge uproar in New York and a lot of the clubs fans wanted refunds on their season tickets. Lampard did eventually go on to play for the American club and managed to make 29 appearances for them.
The three lions:
Lampard had 106 caps for the England national team and scored 29 goals for the the three lions. He however failed to transfer his club success to his national campaigns. But that is a very minor blemish in an otherwise wonderful career.
