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Frank Lampard says his new contract had nothing to do with Jose Mourinho...

...but it's not so hard to imagine that it did have something to do with Jose Mourinho.

These aren't the headlines you're looking for.
These aren't the headlines you're looking for.
Lars Baron

ESPN FC, née Soccernet ...

... by the way, I really don't understand this whole trend of rebranding outlets that cover football as something-something FC. SiriusXM did with their Channel 94, which is mostly football talk and coverage. It is now SiriusXM FC. YOU'RE NOT A FOOTBALL CLUB! Yes, ok, it's the "home for soccer," but that doesn't make it a "Football Club." Then ESPN turned Soccernet into ESPN FC, which, also, surprisingly ISN'T A FOOTBALL CLUB. Ye gods.

... Anyway.

ESPN FC is running a set of quotes from Frank Lampard, wherein the Chelsea legend sheds some behind-the-scenes light on the new contract. The quotes aren't sourced at all, nor is there a name on the article, although they may have come from Thursday's award dinner where Frank gave similar sound bytes to Neil Barnett and Chelsea TV.

From January onwards, I was allowed to look at other options.

BUT

Talks with the club had [also] been ongoing...

SO

I wanted to get my head down at Chelsea and show that I could still do it, remain fit and contribute.

That last line is classic Lampard.

But wait, here comes the juicy part:

I didn't make any enquiries nor were guarantees made to me about who the next manager would be.

So that's a bit different because I'm sure many of us assumed that there were some ... Special ... behind-the-scene machinations to bring about this amicable resolution to the contract standoff.

That being said, maybe he's just not really allowed to say anything about it - or he's using some common sense if he does know something that we're not supposed to know just yet. We're on a need to know basis, and we don't need to know.

I have the faith that the club will make the right decision. [...] This is a great club with great players and the idea of certain managers arriving does excite me.

Because that to me essentially reads: "Well, I thought about leaving, but then they basically told me that Daddy Mourinho is coming home so I took a small pay-cut because he's the bestest and smells like honey and wine and winning."

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