England Manager Pays Tribute to Frank Lampard after Chelsea Midfielder’s Retirement

England manager Gareth Southgate has paid tribute to former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, who recently announced his retirement from the game.

Lampard has represented the likes of West Ham, Chelsea, Manchester City, and New York City FC in his stellar career. He also made more than 100 appearances for the England national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goal scoring midfielders of all time, Lampard ended up with more than 200 goals for Chelsea in his 13 years at the club. The goal scoring exploits of the midfielder still remain a record. He is Chelsea’s all-time top scorer in all competitions.

Southgate played alongside Lampard when the former West Ham midfielder was just coming through. Southgate brought an end to his international career in 2004 after having made his debut in 1995. Just a few years after he had made his debut, Southgate was training with Lampard.

The Chelsea man had first featured for the national team in 1999 before returning in 2014 after making 106 appearances. Southgate says that he has witnessed first-hand the kind of dedication, hard work, and quality possessed by Lampard. Once upon a time, Lampard was ridiculed by some of the West Ham fans, but he has turned out into one of the greatest England midfielders of his generation.

“I can remember Frank training with England as a very young player and then playing with him on his debut at Sunderland in 1999.What struck me was his desire to keep improving, practising and doing additional work after training.You only have to look at his list of honours to see the level he reached and his goalscoring record as a midfield player is remarkable. What's more, I can't remember anyone in recent times who scored so many of their goals from outside of the penalty box,” said Southgate.