It has been on the cards for some time but Frank Lampard’s agent Steve Kutner has revealed that his client will leave Stamford Bridge at the end of the current season following 12 years of service as a Chelsea player, and will always be regarded as a legend by the Chelsea fans.
There has been speculation all season about the England midfielder’s future as a Blue and it has been apparent that he will not be offered a new deal to stay at the west London club, whilst Kutner hasn’t ruled out a move to Serie A amid reported interest from Inter Milan and Lazio.
Kutner said:
“At this time, Lampard thinks only of the present. That is Chelsea.
“On the future, the only certain thing is that he’ll change team at the end of the season.
“Frank wants to play in a great team, able to fight for important goals and winning other trophies.”
On the Serie A speculation, he added:
“We won’t rule anything out. The only thing that counts is that the player is happy and can continue playing at a high level.
“A champion of Lampard’s calibre deserves the biggest stage. Serie A? Why not? Only time will tell if Lazio could be the ideal destination.”
The news has caused a large portion of Chelsea fans to react angrily as they argue that Lampard has been mistreated by the club by not offering him a new contract and enraged by the fact no offer has come his way, but if he wants to stay, as he says he does, then I find it hard to believe that Kutner hasn’t been in contact with the club in relation to his personal demands and this may be a reason he hasn’t been offered anything as the club don’t want to pay up.
Another theory is that Roman Abramovich is still irked by what he believed was unprofessional behaviour towards the end of the Andre Villas-Boas reign and the likes of Lampard and Ashley Cole have become victims of this. Let’s not forget that there were also rumours of dressing room bust-ups before Roberto Di Matteo received his marching orders, with Steve Holland’s suspicious black eye and cut cheek fuelling rumours that something isn’t quite right behind the scenes at the club. But we can only speculate.
Others argue that Lampard would likely have to take a significant pay cut to stay and sign yearly extensions, like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have done at Manchester United for several years, but he may not wish to when he can earn more elsewhere…any why not? Good luck to him. He’s won everything with Chelsea and has written his name in the history books.
But then again, Kutner spoke to BBC5Live saying he “hasn’t spoken to anybody about Lampard’s future and hasn’t given any interview about it.”
