Frank Lampard is one of the best midfielders in English football and an inspiration too many. At just 27 he has won a whole array of awards r

Franks career started in 1994 when he was signed by West ham of whom his uncle was the manager of and who his father was currently playing for. Unfortunately he did not make much of an impression and so the fans turned against him. Later he was loaned out to Division two’s ‘Swansea City’ for who he played just 7 games and scored only one goal and was later struck with an injury to his right foot which left him out for the rest season.

It wasn’t until the 1997/98 season that Frank established himself as a rising star, he had returned to West Ham and was a regular in the squad that went on to win the ‘InterToto Cup’ when he was spotted by the England U21 manager who snapped him up and made him captain of the England U21 squad. He made a total of 19 appearances and scored 9 goals and managed to find a way into a friendly with the full England squad in 1999.

In 2001 Frank became unsettled at West Ham after the departure of his father going into retirement and his uncle leaving to manage another club. There was much speculation over which clubs wanted to sign Frank and at what cost.

Eventually it was Chelsea’s Claudio Ranieri’s who won his signature at the cost of ₤11million. This caused uproar with the Chelsea fans as this was a lot of money for such an inexperienced player.

        Franks Chelsea career started promisingly and it was towards the end of his first season that fans began to see what he was capable of, unfortunately this was not seen by England management and he was left out of the world cup team for Japan. Although Frank was disappointed, he used this to try improving on his skills for the 2002/03 season, throughout the season Frank became stronger and stronger scoring more and more goals. Upon winning the last game of the season against Liverpool, Chelsea earned a place in the UEFA Champions League. Frank now had the chance to prove himself in Europe.