Frank Lampard is a former English professional footballer and a football pundit. He occasionally give post match analysis on a reputed channels like BBC and BT Sport. He is considered by many journalists and pundits as the greatest midfielder of his generation. Even Chelsea legends Bobby Tambling and John Terry are of the same opinion and have mentioned this in multiple interviews.
He is the all time goalscorer of Chelsea, where he played for a remarkable 13 years . He began his career at the English club West Ham United. By the 1997-98 season, he secured a place in the first team. He helped the team secure a fifth position in the English Premier League that season. The best finish for the club so far. In the year 2001, English club Chelsea bought the midfielder for a fee of €11m.
He was a part of the first team ever since and 430 appearances for the club and scored 211 goals for the club . He made 164 Premier League appearances.
The most by an outfield player. He signed a contract extension in 2008 , making him the highest player of the league at that time.
Back during the 2009-10 campaign, Frank helped his club secure their first league and FA Cup Double and also had his most prolific season with the club, scoring 22 league goals and 17 league assists.
Lampard donned the armband and made Chelsea win their first UEFA Champions League success in 2012 and a year later helped them to their first UEFA Europa League title. He was released by the club after the 2013-14 season.
At the international level , he was capped 106 times and scored 29 goals for England. He even scored 9 goals from the spot. Thus surpassing the record of 8 goals by Ron Flowers and Alan Shearer.
Lampard was a versatile box to box player who was capable of playing in any position in the midfield. He played as a defensive midfielder, sometimes as an attacking midfielder and even as a supporting striker on occasions. He was also an accurate set piece taker and a good kicker from the spot.
Lampard’s career was rather rocky after departure from West London at the end of 2013-14 season. In the year 2014, he signed MLS side NewYork City FC. Then reports surfaced that he’d signed a loan deal with parent club Manchester City and that his contract at the MLS club wouldn’t start until the end of his stay in Manchester.
He scored his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw against his former club Chelsea . He didn’t celebrate the goal though. Making the Chelsea crowd fall him love with him . All over again . Lampard shows signs of intention that he wanted to extend his stay in Manchester prompted an angry response from fans in New York, with NYCFC being accused of dishonesty for using the player in their promotional material.
Lampard however , stated that he’d want to play for NewYork alongside David Villa and Andrea Pirlo.
Here’s a list of things you didn’t know about Lampard
1 : Frank Lampard’s father also began his career at West Ham United. Lampard Sr played most part of his career for West Ham and made 670 appearances for the club. He was the assistant coach at the club, when Frank signed the youth contract.
2 : Frank was very good academically as a child. He got straight A+ in subjects back then . He even stated in his autobiography that he used to get A+ in Latin. Lampard showed a relatively high IQ , when a neurological research was conducted by Chelsea doctor Bryan English . English said “Frank has one of the highest marks ever recorded in tests.”
3: Frank played cricket as a kid. At 14, he was playing cricket for his school, which made everyone feel that he was better at cricket than football. He even revealed that he was a very stubborn batsman as a child.
4: He remembers his time with West Ham youth team as the most enjoyable one. He had his own set of friends and with his little community he developed his skills that made him a proper professional.
5: Lampard is also a children’s writer . he has written works titled “Little Brown ” that has multiple chapters of little Frankie and his adventures.
He even wrote his autobiography, titled “Totally Frank: Biography of Frank Lampard”.
