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In what has become a regular spring-time and summer-time and winter-time occurrence - sorry, autumn - Frank Lampard has popped up on the transfer rumor board with a link to the MLS and, specifically, The House That Beckham Built And In Which Now Landon Donovan Darns His Stinky Socks.
Starting way back when Andre Villas-Boas tried to phase him out, Lampard's Stamford Bridge exit in search of a final payday has always seemed more of an inevitability than just a possibility. Yet, so far, the combination of Roberto Di Matteo, a victorious Champions League campaign, and some common sense negotations have kept Lampard where he belongs. Oh, and of course Mourinho, for it was the soon-to-be Returned One who basically convinced Lampard to stay last season when the midfielder "wasn't feeling very important to the team."
So no worries, right? The Returned One has indeed returned and will make sure to lock up Lampard for another season with perhaps added coaching duties while Frank works towards his coaching badges, right? But if Lampard wasn't feeling important to the team last season when he played in all but two of Chelsea's league matches (not including the eight-match stint when he was injured), how is he feeling now, having hardly played since the arrival of Nemanja Matic? He was undroppable early on but has started just three of our last nine league games and in his last start, against Spurs, he got the hook at half-time.
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In light of that, perhaps it's unsurprising that The Sun are running with the fresh LA Galaxy links for Chelsea's all-time leading goalscorer (which is now getting picked up by other outlets). This is in stark contrast with the Mirror, who, just last month, rated Frank's chances of getting a new contract even higher than John Terry's.
The Sun claim that a £4m-per-year offer, presumably multi-year, is on the table despite the Galaxy having a full complement of designated players already in Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, and Omar Gonzalez. Donovan and his Euro-talent-level salary may be the one to make way, according to the tabloid, though that seems rather unlikely. In fact, all three DPs are signed beyond this year, with both Donovan and Keane - who are both younger than Lampard, as unbelievable as that may seem - signing multi-year extensions in the past eight months.
So, probably nothing; maybe something. Just another filler episode in season three of Days of Our Frank Lampard Contract Extensions.
