Lampard set to leave Chelsea

Frank Lampards camp confirmed yesterday that the Chelsea legend will not be signing a new contract with the west londers and will leave on a free come the summer.

Club captain John Terry took to twitter to state his disappointment and what appeared to be contempt directed at the Chelsea boardroom, he also went on to say that the number 8 shirt should be retired, this tweet was subsequently deleted and Chelsea's interim coach Rafael Benítez has admitted his surprise at Terry's passionate outburst. Terry also posted a series of hashtags, which included "hero", "legend" and "goalmachine".

Do you agree with Terry's comments? Should Chelsea be letting him go? Just how important has he been to Chelsea over the years? and how highly does he rate in the top players to have played in England?

Calling for his shirt to be retired is ridiculous. He's reached the end of his time at the club, not died on the pitch.

Players are not machines and should express their opinions. Terry, much as I dislike him is correct. Players often get criticised for lack of loyalty. Yet teams hardly get criticised for culling players.

I haven't seen this reported that much, I think it's still up in there whether he'll stay or go. The main problem is that he'd be gone before a new permanent manager is brought in.

I don't think Chelsea need him to be honest, sure he can pick up goals but he doesn't offer as much to the team as he has done in the past and his presence looms over people much in the same way as Terry's. Chelsea are right to be moving on from the previous old guard. The only one I'd keep is Cole.

legs have gone.......

He's not worth the money his agent is going to want to keep him on....

Besides in fairness chelsea have got some top quality players in midfield already...

Next year could be a huge year for Chelsea....

I'd take Frank at Albion, he'd he great for a club looking to take that step up. Great servant over the years, so many goals, so many great memories.

You can't afford his wages........

Depends what his wages would be. He's publicly stated he'd drop them to stay at Chelsea, and he's not going to get £150k a week from anyone. Wages of £50-£60k are do-able for us, so it's not impossible.

And all I said was he'd be good for us, I never said he'd actually come. He's not daft

I think a lot of people aren't taking into account that I'm sure Lampard is saying he'll stay if he still gets top wages. Even if it's lower than he's on now, it's still going to be £80k a week or over which is still a lot for Lampard who while still has a lot of ability isn't even close to the player he was, scoring penalties doesn't change that.

I would be surprised if Chelsea said no if he dropped his wages by a lot.

I think they would be mad to get rid of him at the mo. He adds something to the squad and his performances though not as good as before are better than most.

Whoever ends up getting him will be laughing. He has plenty left tp give.

spencerclarke wrote:Whoever ends up getting him will be laughing. He has plenty left tp give.

And he'll be taking plenty of them as well.

It seems everyone, fans, media, other teams, all think Chelsea are mad. So it's one of these:

1. Abramovich is trying to assert his authority,
2. They're trying to get within the Fair Play limits, or
3. Lampard has done something behind the scenes

Which one I wonder? I suspect a combination of 1/2.

He's already asserted his authority..so it's not 1.

Maybe he's just tired of the.......kissing his ring and then gazing at his Mum in heaven celebration......

Leave that kind of melodramatic celebration to the luvvies at the Old Vic..

He's still a cracking player, I'm sure wherever he goes he'll do well.

Also didn't know Terry was on twitter!

Terry is on twitter, wow he's got balls.

I don't think he does have Twitter...

Azzy Mahmood wrote:It seems everyone, fans, media, other teams, all think Chelsea are mad. So it's one of these:

1. Abramovich is trying to assert his authority,
2. They're trying to get within the Fair Play limits, or
3. Lampard has done something behind the scenes

Which one I wonder? I suspect a combination of 1/2.

I heard somewhere that Abramovich wasn't too happy that player power meant he had to get rid of AVB so quickly, which meant paying him off and looking for someone else again. I don't think he'll be too upset when that core of players who seem to have too much power are gone.