Frank Lampard gunning for a move to Inter Milan

With ‘Big Phil' only hours into his Stamford Bridge reign, the west London club are busy offering Frank Lampard a new contract rumored to be in the region of $US280,000-a-week.

The wage would be a Barclays Premier League record and, amid transfer rumours galore, it may yet be the difference between the midfielder moving to Inter Milan or staying at Chelsea.

Without a doubt, Lampard is a vital component in a team that also has supreme stopper Petr Cech and lethal striker Didier Drogba at its undeniably brilliant heart. Hence the incredulous offer being cobbled together.


With Cech's impressive frame in goal, the rocklike presence of Terry and Drogba's marauding brilliance up front, Lampard - not to mention new boy Deco and Michael Ballack - completes a particularly solid spine - a sturdy, 100% reliable base from which Chelsea can either launch attack after withering attack or defend resolutely.

Teams lacking this mighty platform can rarely aspire to the heights scaled by past greats, Jose Mourinho's boys or, come to mention it, Sir Alex Ferguson's recently crowned Premier League champions (Van der Sar, Ferdinand/Vidic, Hargreaves/Ronaldo, Rooney).

They will always be a good distance behind those blessed with the likes of Lampard and friends. Their fragile nature at a variety of points where strength is needed most, a sure fire recipe for failure.

Make no mistake, spines of steel make champions. Having four or five star names excelling in those key middle-of-the-park roles is unquestionably the difference between a team being remembered forever or forgotten in a flash.

These influential individuals - from their equally influential positions - provide the high class consistency that any glorious campaign requires. Level heads who will always give you their very best no matter how well or poorly others perform, level heads who can, as a unit, pull the rest of their colleagues through the tough times.

As a manager, it must be a delightful thing to have this constant dynamism at the epicentre of your plans for global domination.

No wonder then that Mr Scolari, backed by Roman Abramovich‘s money, wants to secure Lampard's services for what would be another extremely lucrative stint in the blue of Chelsea.

They may be astronomical sums, but on past evidence it is clear that Lampard would be worth every penny, his immense pay packet a necessary evil if Chelsea are to continue challenging for the silverware that everyone connected with the three-time champions of England craves.
After all, wouldn't you want to keep a member of one of the most impressive spines in Europe?

To me at least, the price Chelsea will have to pay seems cheap at half the price if they want their favourite to reject Inter's approaches.