FRANK: MY DEBT TO JOSE
FRANK LAMPARD last night pledged to end the deadlock over his future by finally signing his new contract at Chelsea.
The England midfielder hopes talks can be successfully completed ahead of the club's tour to the US.
That would allow Lampard to remain under the guidance of Blues manager Jose Mourinho, who has helped him emergence as one of the world's most-wanted players.
And while the long-running contract wrangle has left open the prospect the 29-year-old might still be considering the chance of a bigmoney move abroad, Lampard gave the clearest signal yet his ambitions remain firmly in west London and with Mourinho.
Lampard said: "Jose has given me so much as a player and a person. He's an amazing man to work for day in day out.
"He's helped me technically and tactically and as a person he's given me real confidence.
His man-management and all-round skills are brilliant."
Chelsea were one of three English clubs to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, although it was AC Milan who emerged as kings of Europe.
Milan, along with Juventus and Barcelona, have long been linked with a move for Lampard, but he said: "The Premiership has been the best league in the world for a good number of years.
"That's been proven by the amount of talent that comes here and by the way we play.
"When you travel around the world the amount of people who love watching the Premier League for what it gives in excitement and technique is as high as ever."
Privately, Chelsea insiders are relaxed about Lampard's situation, believing a deal will be reached, although club claims he had been offered £140,000 a week were denied by the player and his advisers.
Chelsea had anticipated Lampard might play "hard to get" for the next 12 months, before deciding whether to see out his contract and go for free in 2009 or see what deal was then on the table from the club.
His agent, Steve Kutner, was in mischievous mood when seen clutching a batch of Spanish DVDs yesterday, but Lampard's hint that he was looking to come to an agreement will be a big lift for Chelsea.
Mourinho has strengthened his squad by signing Tal Ben Haim, Steve Sidwell and Claudio Pizarro, with PSV Eindhoven centre-half Alex and Lyon winger Florent Malouda poised to join as well.
Lampard, who in his autobiography was critical of Sven Goran Eriksson's training regime at the last World Cup, welcomed the Swede's imminent return to English football with Manchester City.
"I'm very pleased for Sven that he's back," said Lampard. "He deserves that.
"People threw a lot of criticism at him for the England job, which is a very hard job to do.
"We haven't won anything as a country for a long, long time, so I'm pleased for him he's been able to come back at club level."
He added: "Sven was great for me, he helped me a lot and gave me confidence with England. "I think he will make a big impact at City because he's a big personality.
"I'm a big fan of his as a person and a manager and I'm pleased he's gone to a club like Manchester City.
I think he'll do very well because he knows how to put a team together and make it successful."
Daily Mirror
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...we were a 100 % english team at that time with Wright,Merson,Winterburn,Dixon,Keown and co..how times have changed,huh?
