John Terry: Chelsea should retire Lampard's No.8 shirt number

Chelsea captain John Terry has claimed that the Blues should retire Frank Lampard’s jersey number, as a tribute to his contribution to the club.

Lampard is set to leave the Blues on a free-transfer at the end of the season, with Roman Abramovich reluctant to extend the 34 year-old’s contract.

Terry tweeted: “Devastated is an understatement. We should retire the number 8 shirt in honour of Lamps. #theheartbeat #hero #legend #hero #goalmachine #friend #ktbffh [keep the blue flag flying high] #cfc #chelsea.”

The club captain later denied his reaction was from official news given by the Chelsea hierarchy, but from an apparent Steve Kutner interview in the Italian media, in which he reportedly said the midfielder would definitely be leaving the Bridge this summer. “I have seen franks agents quotes on sky yesterday. That’s all I’m going on nothing more,” he said.

The Sun recently ran a poll asking sports fans whether they thought Chelsea should extend his stay with the Blues, and a whopping 84% said they should. If only Roman agreed with the 84%!

Frank Lampard scored both of our goals in last Sunday’s Everton win, which Chelsea came from behind to win 2-1, and has been instrumental in Chelsea’s recent form. The Blues had been struggling prior to Franks return from injury. Chelsea have won 6 of the 8 games since Lampard returned, compared to their run of 3 wins in the 11 games without the England veteran.

Frank Lampard has won everything for Chelsea bar the World Club Cup, and has been a loyal servant since his move across London from West Ham in 2001.

Lampard’s most likely future destinations appear to be in Serie A, with Inter Milan rumoured to be very keen on the midfielder, with his uncle Harry Redknapp also said to be interested in signing him for QPR. Lamp’s sees himself playing on for another 2-3 seasons after this one, and believes he still has a lot to offer at the top level.

Chelsea fans such as me will have to accept the loss of Franky, as Roman will not budge once he has made up his mind. Chelsea will not be the same without Lampard. The legend will never be forgotten.