Lampard : One of Europe's Best Midfielders

Lampard was born in Romford, East London, England. He is the son of Frank Lampard Sr., the former England full back and two-time FA Cup winner with West Ham United. His family is related to another famous footballing family, the Redknapps. Lampard was educated at Brentwood School, a boys' independent school in Brentwood, Essex.

Lampard's debut for West Ham came on 31 January 1996 against Coventry City F.C., but he did not become a team regular that season. He then broke his right leg in a game against Aston Villa on 15 March 1997, ending his season prematurely.

Lampard signed for Chelsea on May 15, 2001 for £11 million, one of the first signings of then Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. Lampard's improvement at Stamford Bridge has been slow but spectacular. Despite being an ever present in the first eleven, his first two seasons at Chelsea were sometimes bogged down by his massive transfer fee and later eclipsed by the scintillating form of Gianfranco Zola. It wasn't until his third season with Chelsea - coinciding with the arrival of Roman Abramovich - that he fully blossomed, establishing himself as one of the top midfielders in Europe.

Lampard had an impressive start to the next season with his club, being selected as the Barclays Player of the Month in September 2003 and the PFA Fans' Player of the Month in October. This was the season when Lampard's goal-scoring prowess came to the fore, notching up double-figures in league goals for the first of thus-far four consecutive seasons. Chelsea reached the semi-final of the Champions League before being eliminated by AS Monaco, with Lampard scoring four goals in fourteen games, including strikes in both the quarter-finals (against Arsenal) and the second-leg against Monaco. Chelsea also finished second in the Premiership behind Arsenal, their highest finish in the top division since winning the title in 1955.

The 2004-05 season was the most successful in Chelsea's history, and Lampard was at its centre. He played in all 38 of the club's Premiership matches, scoring 13 goals (out of his 19 all season), remarkable for a midfielder, helping Chelsea to win their first title in 50 years by a 12-point margin. He scored another four goals in the Champions League as Chelsea made the semi-finals for the second successive year. His two goals in six matches were also instrumental in his club's League Cup victory.
So impressive was his form during the Champions League and league run that former Brazilian captain Carlos Alberto and Dutch footballer Johann Cruyff both referred to him as one of Europe's best midfielders, and he ended the 2004-05 season by winning the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award.

Due to a back injury by captain John Terry, Lampard spent much of the 2006-07 campaign as captain of Chelsea. He was voted fans' player of the month for January 2007 by givemefootball readers after scoring seven goals in eight games. At the end of the season he was ranked 5th in the Actim Index of Premiership players, and also appeared in the Actim team of the season.

In a post-match interview after winning the FA Cup Final with Chelsea, Lampard clarified his future at the club stating that he would want to stay at the club "forever". Since then, the player has been linked with a possible move to Juventus by the British press, this has intensified since Claudio Ranieri, the man who signed Lampard from West Ham United in the first place took over at the Old Lady. He has also been linked to Real Madrid for a transfer fee of £25 million. Despite media speculation that Lampard had rejected a new contract offer from Chelsea, his agent has said the player has not yet opened negotiations with the club.

Lampard has been accused of scoring goals from deflections. However, a report from The Guardian newspaper shows that only six of his goals (6.7%) for Chelsea have been scored in that way. As Martin Samuel of the Times sarcastically put it: "what a lucky boy he must be: 83 deflections since August 2003"

Lampard is the holder of the Premiership record of playing consecutive league matches dating back to October 13, 2001, set on November 26, 2005, breaking the previous record of 159 appearances by David James. The streak ended on December 28, 2005, after 164 games, when Lampard was taken ill before Chelsea's game at Manchester City. Lampard's 16 goals in the 2005-2006 season was at the time a record for a midfielder in the English Premier League, but this was beaten by Cristiano Ronaldo the following season, with 17 league goals.