Chelsea FC’s 50 Greatest Players Of All-Time
1. Frank Lampard: 2001-2014
They say that you never forget your first (what/whoever it may be). That there are exceptions to it, is best exemplified by Frank Lampard or Super Frank, as he is known to us Blues.
Frank’s first was West Ham United and considering that his father had played for them as well, it seemed a match made in heaven, until a cash-strapped Chelsea severed that umbilical connection in 2001 and paid a then-risky £11m to bring this 22-year-old to Stamford Bridge. And thus began a true love-affair with Chelsea (strengthened by an equally strong loathing for the Hammers), one that lasted 13 long years and brought home 13 trophies, with at least one of almost every kind that was on offer. Did someone say 13 was an unlucky number?!
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Right from his debut, Frank entrenched himself in the Chelsea XI (& in our hearts), along the way creating a rare record for an outfield player of 164 consecutive Premier League appearances. He redefined the job description of a midfield player with his prolific scoring that made him the club’s all-time leading goalscorer and the only Premier League midfielder to score over 150 goals.
Thanks to his glorious career, his name is now practically synonymous with the term box-to-box midfielder, with his exploits nearly winning him the Ballon D’Or (losing only to Ronaldinho). The icing on his career cake was captaining the team to glory in the finals of both the Champions League and the Europa League (though that was karmically unfair to Terry).
Ever the consummate team-player, an on and off the field role model and a genuinely nice bloke, Frank, to us, was the ultimate professional footballer and one who finds himself near the top of most Chelsea greatest lists. Despite not being able to end his career with the Blues, he left the club 13 years later with a rich trophy haul, a treasure trove of amazing memories and contributions worth umpteen times more than that £11m that we paid for him in 2001.
He has subsequently moved to the MLS and New York City FC, with a pit-stop at Manchester City that saw him become only the 2nd player to achieve 600+ PL appearances. But despite the shenanigans (for no fault of his own) surrounding his Man City tenure, he remains to this day a much loved icon for us real Blues, a priceless jewel in our crown. Diamonds, indeed, are forever.