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Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Chelsea to let Frank Lampard leave this June

Chelsea have no intention of offering England international midfielder Frank Lampard a contract extension - and his current contract will expire in June 2013.

Lampard has been a huge part of Chelsea's side for a dozen years, and with 576 appearances and 193 goals for The Blues he has clearly been an important paret of Chelsea's trophy success.

It was less than a year ago when Lampard captained Chelsea to a famous Champions League victory in the Allianz Arena over Bayern Munich in the absense of suspended regular captain John Terry.

But with FIFA's fair play rules looming on the horizon, the mega-millions of owner Roman Abrimovich are now longer the main factor in wage negotiation, and the fact that Chelsea need to trim their wage bill down from an annual cost of £191m means that all new deals need to be evaluated.

Lampard is 34, and will be 35 in February, and he is reckoned to be on a deal worth around £150,000 per week. That's not sustainable - and it looks like Chelsea will begin to dismantle the established order.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, is rumoured to be considering making a move in the summer, as he also looks to replace an aging midfield with the evergreen Paul Scholes (38) and Ryan Giggs (39) likely to call time on their careers this year - but their ages showing how a mid-thirties midfielder can fit in at Old Trafford.

So - are Chelsea right to let Lampard go? What is he worth in today's market? What sort of weekly wage should he command?

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