Frank Lampard | | | Opinions are divided when it comes to saying whether Frank Lampard made Chelsea famous, or Chelsea made Frank Lampard famous.
I can't promise you that you'll find the answer to this in the upcoming biography, but I can promise that you'll know more about this fabulous midfielder's career and even if you already formed an opinion on him, it's subject to change. Trade me 5 minutes of your time in reading this Frank Lampard biography and you'll not be disappointed.
Born in Romford, a suburb of London, Frank Lampard was surrounded by soccer during his entire childhood. His father, Frank Lampard Senior was a full back for West Ham United for many years, having won two FA Cups with the London-based team. He is also related to another famous English footballer, namely Harry Redknapp.
Therefore, it was only natural that Frank Lampard junior would be attracted to soccer and despite taking up on soccer rather late, at age 15, he managed to get in the West Ham United youth squad where he played for two seasons, before drawing the attention of the first squad.
Although valued by both the fans and the club's staff as a future first squad player for West Ham, Lampard went on to Swansea City in the 1995/1996 season, in order to get some match experience.
Although not being the first choice for central midfielder at Swansea either, he grabbed 9 games that season. He even managed to score a goal, but Lampard was not satisfied with his reserve status and returned to West Ham in January 1996.
After the short Premiership break in January, Frank Lampard was immediately awarded his first game for West Ham, against Coventry City, however his reserve status was still hanging hard across his neck.
As if not getting enough matches wasn't enough of a problem for the talented midfielder, when he did get a chance to play, he suffered a horrible injury that threatened to end his career, breaking his right leg in a game against Aston Villa, at the end of the 1996/1997 season.
Despite recovering from the injury, the 1997/1998 season was equally harsh for him, although a moment of joy occurred when he scored his first goal for West Ham in an away win against Barnsley.
Developing into a quality midfielder now, Lampard managed to earn his place in the first squad and when he was given a chance, he took it with both hands: he managed to play in all of West Ham's games in the 1998-1999 season, with only a few of these games seeing him enter the pitch off the bench, as a substitute.
At the end of the season however, his father and his uncle, Harry Redknapp, left West Ham and Frank was set to move on as well. Despite being offered by Aston Villa or Leeds, he decided to stay closer to home and signed the contract offered to him by Chelsea London.
Lampard as lucky enough to transfer to Chelsea before billionaire Roman Abramovici bought the team and started building a squad of star players that would dominate the English league and Europe.
In his two seasons prior to Abramovici, Lampard managed to win a place in Chelsea's first squad and became a decisive player in the offensive end. This fact and the fans' support kept him in the team even after the massive transfers that came with the new club owner and from there on, Frank Lampard started to slowly, but surely rise to stardom.
In the following two seasons, Frank Lampard managed to be named runner-up European Football Player of the Year, each time beaten by Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho.
Besides winning the league twice, in 2005 and 2006 (many of Chelsea's wins were decided by Frank Lampard goals in these two successful years) he was called regularly to the national side. Having a solid midfield in Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, England was expected to pull off a great 2006 World Cup, but unfortunately none of the two midfielders were in their best form and England pulled a disappointing run.
Since then, Lampard entered a mild cone of shadow, But don't worry; he'll get back in full force, as Chelsea will most likely push on for another Premiership title and a first success in Champions League. |
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