Lampard keen to continue England career as Chelsea future remains unclear
Frank Lampard could yet reject a move abroad and remain at Chelsea beyond this season, reports the Daily Mirror.
The 34-year-old had appeared set to leave the club when his contract expires in the summer, though the club’s fans have expressed their desire for the former West Ham youngster to stay at Stamford Bridge. With his heroics for England at Wembley this week, the player wants to remain in the Premier League in order to aid his chances of playing in the World Cup in Brazil next year.
Chelsea are now believed to be considering offering the player a 12-month contract extension to remain in West London, and this could represent an amazing U-turn with the former champions having already retained the services of Ashley Cole.
Those close to Lampard have insisted that formal talks with the Blues are yet to commence, but the club are thought to now be at least considering tabling an offer. With a potential £8m contract waiting for him at LA Galaxy and a £6m deal in China, Lampard could be set to accept a much smaller sum to stay in his home nation and vie for a World Cup spot.
Should talks with Chelsea fall through, however, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson remains keen on bringing the England star to Old Trafford. With fellow elder players Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes still revelling in the spotlight in Manchester, Ferguson’s track record with players of all ages remains impressive, and this could tempt Lampard to making the switch to one of Chelsea’s biggest rivals.
England boss Roy Hodgson warned Lampard following the Three Lions’ Wembley victory over Brazil that a move to the States could jeopardise his international career, and the player has decided that this could prove a massively important factor when deciding his next career move.
He said: “First and foremost, I’ll seek my own advice, make my own decisions, but I’m very competitive and I’ve got a sniff of the World Cup. It’s only a sniff because it’s a year away and England aren’t even there, so I shouldn’t get carried away.
“But I’ll keep performing to my best and whatever decisions I take, I’ll take with a view across the board to make myself happy, to try to play my best football I can. I know how football is and from squad to squad it can change and when you get to the age of 34/35 in the summer, people do look upon things differently and fair enough.
“It’s certainly a target for me and, yes, I will try to keep playing at a good enough level to get there. It’s a target. I won’t retire from England before that, put it that way. I’m very understanding of where I’m at in my career but if I can continue playing for Chelsea and continue contributing for England, whether it’s starting or not and a valuable squad member, and when I play do my bit, then it is getting a bit nearer.”
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