There has been much speculation about Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard recently and it looks like he will be departing the club he has stayed loyal to for twelve years in the summer. Many clubs seem to be interested in signing him, but what lies in store next for Frank Lampard?
The England international was told earlier this week by Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay that he would not be offered a new contract at the end of the season under any circumstance and that he would be available to leave on a free transfer. It has been rumoured that Frank would have considered taking a £100,000 pay cut to stay at his beloved club but this offer has not materialised. A great admirer of Lampard is Sir Alex Ferguson and the 34-year old has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, making them the favourites to sign him, as well as left back Ashley Cole who also seems surplus to requirements at the club. Many other clubs have also put forward their ambitions to sign Lampard. Chelsea’s rivals Arsenal have shown an interest but it would be extremely hard for Lampard to move to another London club after his service to Chelsea.
MLS side LA Galaxy have said they would like to sign him but their domestic season starts in March so the transfer may prove infeasible. There has also been a high level of interest shown from Italy, with legend Andrea Pirlo saying that he would love Lampard to join him at Serie A giants Juventus and that Chelsea “would be mad” to let him leave. Fiorentina and French club Monaco have also been known to want the 93 cap England midfielder. Currently, Lampard is level with Kerry Dixon in the all-time top goal scoring charts and is just nine goals behind the legendary Bobby Tambling, so it is no question that he would like to bow out on a high as the clubs highest scoring player ever.
However this will depend whether he continues to feature in the plans of Rafael Benitez and, of course, Roman Abramovich until the end of the season. At the end of the day, any club would love to secure the services of a player of Frank Lampard’s calibre despite his age, so it will be exciting to see who he will be playing for in the 2013/14 season.
