Could the seasoned midfielder really be swapping the blue of Stamford Bridge for the red of Old Trafford?
Wow. Could this really happen? Should it happen?
Some transfer stories seem so ridiculous in their inception that at first glance that they rightly deserve to be ignored.
At first peek this appears to be one of those, but when you take a second look and consider the merits for all parties, this one could have legs.
Firstly there is Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas’ mission to alienate half of his squad, and he clearly has no love nor strong bond with the regularly benched Frank Lampard.
Then there is Manchester United’s central midfield, or lack of it.
If Sir Alex Ferguson’s policy is to invest in the youth of Tom Cleverley and Paul Pogba, they will need an experienced hand to keep them in check, and Ryan Giggs has just one more year left in him at the most.
Lampard will look at how Ferguson and United have kept players like Giggs and Van Der Sar playing well into the end of their fourth decades and wonder if the same can be done for him.
He could still potentially carry on playing for five years at the top if he is lucky with injuries and utilised correctly, but at Chelsea it currently looks unlikely he will remain for more than two.
He must contemplate how readily Chelsea already seem to discard him and throw him on the scrapheap.
Still, would Lampard really leave Chelsea a club he loves to go to one of their rivals?
Yes of course, he left boyhood club West Ham for the sake of his career and would do the same here too and he has too seen pal Joe Cole leave Stamford Bridge.
If he had a choice between United and Aston Villa, no disrespect but Lampard would sign on at Old Trafford.
There would also be the prospect of a reunion with former boss Jose Mourinho if he ends up succeeding Sir Alex at United.
Do United fans want him? Lampard enjoys a mixed reputation at times, often harshly criticised.
Did United fans want Alan Smith or Michael Owen at first? Both were soon welcomed with open arms.
He may not be the type of ball-playing tiki-taka midfielder United fans crave, but he could certainly blend with others and play an important bit-part role and add experience to the squad that may just soon find it thin on the ground.
The positives Lampard and his knack for scoring crucial goals would bring United outweigh the negatives surely, while for Chelsea he would be a huge loss.
A sticking point could be Chelsea’s reluctance to sell to a rival, but as we all know in the world of football, money talks.
– How do United and Chelsea fans feel about the rumours?
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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