Let the Frank Lampard rumours begin

Frank Lampard's contract is up at the end of the season. We're about to head into the Janaury transfer window. That means that the midfielder -- who hauled Chelsea out of the fire against Everton with a brace on Sunday -- is about to be free to talk to other teams. That's... well, it's weird is what it is.

Although Lampard won't be able to sign a pre-contract with any other Premier League side, he is free to do so with basically everyone else, and we're starting to see the rumours rolling in. He's already been strongly linked with the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS, and now we're getting talk of Serie A as well:

Lampard has been offered Inter and Lazio. The two italian clubs are considering the signing, according to Sky Italy

— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) December 31, 2012

After the Everton match, Lampard denied being in talks with the club about any sort of extension, which is rather unfortunate news for the many Chelsea supporters desperate for him to stay on. I always felt that if Lampard left he'd be getting an appropriate send-off rather than have a contract dispute end his career here, and while I would be very very wary of giving a 34-year-old a long-term deal for significant money... it's Frank Lampard. The fans might mutiny.

Then again, Chelsea have made pretty clear that they're not particularly in touch with the supporters as of late. The club's in a really difficult position on this one because of his wages, but I'm still hoping we'll get the news that Lampard's agreed to stay at the club for a few years in exchange for a decent pay cut. Best of all worlds, right?