Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard concedes that the departure of
striker Didier Drogba will leave a ‘massive hole’ in the Blues’ team.
The
Ivorian forward announced on Tuesday that he had decided not to extend
his contract beyond the current season and would seek a new club.
Drogba
capped off his eight-year spell in west London by scoring the
equalising goal and winning penalty in the Champions League final on
Saturday, and Lampard hailed his former team-mate as one of the best the
Premier League has ever seen.
“I didn’t see Didier get too many
mentions when they were voting for the Premier League team of the past
20 years,” Lampard told The Sun.
“Maybe that’s because people like
to make a fuss about the other side of his game. But having played with
him for the last eight years I tell you without a doubt that he’s the
best striker I’ve ever played with.
“His all-round game is
absolutely immense and what happened in Munich on Saturday night just
confirmed what I have always believed about him. He should be right up
there with Henry, Rooney and Bergkamp among the all-time greats.
“Didier
is going to leave a massive hole at our club but I love him as a bloke
and I can’t be disappointed he’s leaving because he deserves everything
he gets.
“He deserves to go out on a massive finish like this and I
just wish him all the best. It’s been an absolute pleasure to play with
him and I’m sure he’ll make the right decision about his next move.
“Everything he said in his farewell press conference on Tuesday showed him to be an absolute gentleman and a great bloke.”
Drogba
leaves the club having scored over 150 goals in all competitions,
including six in eight appearances in Europe’s premier competition this
season.
The 33-year-old Lampard also revealed that he had started
to doubt whether his generation of Chelsea players would ever get their
hands on the Champions League trophy, having suffered defeat in the
final against Manchester United in 2008.
“It’s slowly sinking in
just what we’ve achieved,” Lampard told talkSPORT. “It’s been such a
long time coming and every year we’ve been asked ‘is this the one that’s
going to elude you?’
“And, if you’re honest, you do start to
wonder if you will miss out. I’m 33, Didier’s 34 and it’s well
documented we’ve got a few older boys in the team.
“The Champions
League gets harder every year, Barcelona and Real Madrid have improved.
So the fact that we’ve finally won it with that kind of performance is
something very special to all of us.”
