FRANK LAMPARD will move to Inter Milan for
£7million after tomorrow’s Champions League final.
Lampard has agreed a
£28m four-year contract with the Italian side, after weeks of
agonising following the death of his mother Pat. The news is a
desperate blow to Chelsea manager Avram Grant on the eve of the
most important game in the club’s history and is certain to damage
dressing-room morale.
Lampard’s move to the
San Siro could coincide with the arrival of his former mentor Jose
Mourinho as coach. Current Inter boss Roberto Mancini is now
favourite to succeed Grant as the new Chelsea manager, in what
would be a sensational series of events over the next few weeks.
The Lampard negotiations took place directly between Chelsea owner
Roman Abramovich and Inter president Massimo Moratti during the
last seven days.
Abramovich has decided
to cash in on Lampard, who has only one year of his contract to run
and has been refusing to sign a new deal. Abramovich does have
Mancini high on his list of targets as a new manager but the
Italian, who won his third successive Serie A title on Sunday,
still has three years remaining on his deal, at about £5m a
year.
Grant is set to be
offered the opportunity to switch back to the role of director of
football he had when he first came to the club last year. Lampard,
29, has refused to sign the £125,000-a-week contract Chelsea have
presented him with this season and it looked as though he was
certain to quit the club this summer.
After the death of his
mother Pat last month, though, he had a change of heart and seemed
set to stay.
But during the last few
weeks, while Lampard and his family have grieved, the player has
once again come round to the idea that he has one last big move in
his career at his age – and still wants to play abroad.
A source close to
Lampard told the Daily Express last night: “Before the death of his
mum, Frank looked certain to go. But then things changed. He was
thinking seriously of staying but it has never gone completely from
his mind that he only has one big move left in his career – and he
has always wanted to go abroad. “Also, he was not happy with the
deal that Chelsea had offered him.”
Lampard remains in
contact with Mourinho, speaking to him every week. The Portuguese
has been in extensive talks with Moratti in the last few weeks and
an agreement between the two is now close to being reached. And one
of Mourinho’s demands to any of the clubs which have been
interested in him was that Lampard was one of the first players he
would be able to buy.
Lampard has played 247
Premier League games for Chelsea since his £11m move from West Ham
in June 2001, scoring 71 goals. He has been a linchpin for the club
ever since and, under Mourinho, was a key part of the team who won
back-to-back league titles.
