Let’s Hear It For…Frank Lampard! Chelsea Legend Off To The MLS After Agreeing Two-Year Deal With New York City FC

Chris Wright

31st, May 2014

8 Comments

By Chris Wright

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Liverpool v Chelsea - Anfield

And lo, all things must pass.

*sniff*

Part of the Premier League furniture for what seems like a lifetime, Frank Lampard is to leave Chelsea after 13 years at Stamford Bridge having reportedly agreed a two-year contract with New York FC – the new MLS franchise part-backed by Manchester City.

According to several of the big papers, Lampard, now 35, left the England party in London to travel up to City’s Carrington training complex this afternoon to complete a medical (alongside fellow imminent NYCFC signing David Villa) under the supervision of NYCFC head coach Jason Kreis.

Lampard was free to talk with interested parties after his Chelsea contract dwindled to nothing last week, with the Mirror reporting that he has taken a significant pay cut to move to the MLS – though a generous bonus structure may well bump his basic wage up to somewhere approaching the £150,000-a-week he was on at The Blues.

Wow. Feels like the end of an era, no? The man was synonymous with the Premier League, and one look at his vital statistics suggests why.

Lampard is one of only two Premier League players (along with Ryan Giggs) to amass over 100 Premier League assists (he has 101) and is also one of only two players to score 10 or more Premier League goals in 10 consecutive seasons – the other being Wayne Rooney.

Lampard also leaves Chelsea as their all-time record scorer with 211 goals in 646 appearances, being the only midfielder to have scored over 150 Premier League goals – and, of course, he did some fine work as a young’n for West Ham before that too.

So long Frank, you magnificent, corpulent beast. You shall be missed!

(Tip o’ the hat for @OptaJoe for the stats)

Posted in Chelsea, MLS, Newsnow, Transfers & Rumours

Share this article: Email

8 Comments

  1. Zam says:

    Likely both himself and Villa will be on free loans to City, until March 2015, anyway….

  2. Mike C says:

    Love reading your stuff Chris, but as a Canadian and as an MLS fan, it would be nice if British publications could start using the correct grammar in regard to just “MLS”. The Major League Soccer is simply not correct.

  3. zebron says:

    It actually hard for me to believe lampard is Leaving chelsea .He was my favourite player at chelsea and it will be hard for me to adapt without him.he was one of the players who fought hard in every game he plays with the aim to come up with good results.I will always miss him at chelsea I wish he can stay much longer at chelsea than I expected.love you lampard

  4. Joe says:

    Lampard’s contract expired, he is a free agent. No loan required.

  5. Zam says:

    @Joe, if he just signed with NYCFC, he’s not a free agent anymore. They’d have to loan him to another club if they want him to play any games between now and next March. Say a club that has some FFP problems, and are short on Englishmen……..

  6. Neale says:

    Carrington is United’s NOT City’s, as stated.

  7. Kieran says:

    Neale, you might want to check that…

  8. Zam says:

    @Neale, both City and United have training complexes in Carrington, MCFC’s named the Carrington Training Centre/Manchester City Training Complex, and MUFC’s names the Aon Training Complex/Trafford Training Centre.

Leave a Reply to Zam