32 Greatest footballers in the history of the English Premier League - Part 27
11. Frank Lampard:
Frank Lampard is a professional footballer who is currently playing for the English club Chelsea in the English Premier League. Lampard performs his footballing duties in the midfield, however he is considered as an attacking midfielder. Frank Lampard also
plays for the national team of England and is also the vice captain of the team. He is considered to be one of the best footballers in the world at the moment.
Frank Lampard started playing football in the youth academy of the English club West Ham United, where his father used to play back in his prime time. During the 1997-1998 season, Frank Lampard managed to find a place in the first team and in the following
season, he helped the team finish at the 5th position of the English Premier League. That is the highest place for West Ham United in the history of the Premier League. After performing for West Ham United, in 2001, Frank Lampard decided to make
a move to the rival London club Chelsea. The agreement between the two sides took place and a deal of 11 million pounds was agreed to. However, no one knew what Lampard was going to become after joining Chelsea.
From the time he started playing for Chelsea, he was always considered as a first team player and as soon as he started featuring for them, he managed to set a record of 164 consecutive Premier League appearances. With Chelsea he became one of the best attacking
midfielders in the world and managed to win to Premier League titles in a row during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 season. He also managed to win a domestic club double in 2007. In the year 2008, Frank Lampard signed a new contract with the West London club
and became the highest paid player in the English Premier League during that time. The year 2008 was the best year for Frank Lampard in terms of football as the prolific Chelsea scorer managed to score in the UEFA Champions League final for the first time.
However, his team could not steal a win against Manchester United as the match went down to penalties and “the blues” lost.
During the 2009-2010 season, Frank Lampard helped his team win the English Premier League and the FA Cup to secure the team’s first double ever. The same year, he managed to perform his personal best for Chelsea as he scored 22 goals and made 17 assists
during the season.
Frank Lampard won the Chelsea Player of the Year award thrice and he is currently Chelsea’s 3rd all-time goal scorer. Lampard has scored over 100 league goals and has found the net 158 times in all competitions. Not only this, Frank Lampard is
also the highest scoring midfielder in the history of the English Premier League as he has managed to score 129 league goals. He is also the 2nd highest assister in the history of the English Premier League with 156 assists attached to his name.
The English player completes at least 1400 passes every year and gives at least 10 assists every time he features for Blues during a “full season.”
In the year 2005, Frank Lampard was voted number 2 in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
While Frank Lampard was busy giving assists and scoring goals at club level, he also managed to impress while playing for the national team of England. He has played 82 matches for the English team from the time when he featured in October 1999. The 32 year
old has scored 20 goals for his country. During Euro 2004, he was named in the team of the tournament as he managed to score 3 goals in only 4 games that he played for England. While performing for England during the FIFA World Cup 2006, he was the highest
goal scorer for them as he finished the successful World Cup campaign with 5 goals. He also helped England qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2010 as he scored 4 goals for them. Later, his goal was disallowed during the pre quarter final match against Germany
and the controversy lead to a referee being banned from the tournament.
Frank Lampard is definitely one of the best midfielders and no one can deny the fact. However, with such an old age (32), there is no denying that his career is almost over.
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