wobbly
Occasional Scribbler
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2002
- Messages
- 10,423
- Reaction score
- 679
- Points
- 103
Yes Chelsea, let Lampard go...
Ok, I'd love for them to keep Lampard on, but what the press don't print when they slam us for being 'disloyal' is that Lampard has apparently been offered a lucrative 4 year deal to play in America.
Yep, pathetic.
Now Chelsea's current policy, one that Fergie has been using at UTD for years and never gets any stick at all for it, is they offer the over 30's that are worth it a one year extension when their current contract is running out.
Drogba was offered this last year but turned it down as he wanted a longer contract and a pay rise to boot. Drogba stuck to his guns so the club had 2 choices: Let him go for nothing, or basically tear up a policy they brought in for very good reasons.
Now with Lampard they know he has the big bucks long term contact offer from the states. Lampard knows this too, making the offer of a one year extension an unrealistic bargaining position for the club.
The best Chelsea could do is match the salary and incentives the US are offering, but only for one more year, certainly not the 4 the Americans are offering. Now if Lampard did accept that from Chelsea (and the one year thing is what put Drogba off) anything could happen in that year: Lampards age could catch up with him, he could get another long term injury, and his appeal for the US could disappear. If he takes the US offer now he has his future secured for 4 more years.
So the club, knowing they can't realisticly keep him, and it would be more sensible for Lampard to take the US offer sooner rather than later, have left his future in his own hands. In January he can join LA Galaxy for a lucrative extension to his career (and Chelsea would still get a transfer fee then), or he can wait out the remainder of his contract and join them in the summer for free.
Like I said, I'd love for them to keep him on, and I don't think they want to to let him go, but they have to be realistic. He is 34 years old, and like Beckham, Henri etc, he knows himself that his best possible future as a player will not be at Chelsea, but lies across the pond.