Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard's fortunes have wavered dramatically at club and country level.

Whereas the Chelsea midfielder remains a firm favourite at Stamford Bridge he has fallen from being a double Player of the Year winner to public enemy number one with England.

Many feel he is unable to partner Steven Gerrard in the centre of the park, which is to the detrement of the team, and as such has become a figure of jest.

Lampard has even been booed by England fans when the teams have been announced and also when substituted.

Back in the blue, though, his goalscoring exploits from the centre of the park remain outstanding - and he outscores just about every striker in the Premier League.

His eye for goal, attacking influence and deadball ability make him one of the best midfielders around. Few would have thought he would progress to be more crucial to the national side than Gerrard... though that may now be a thing of the past.

Lampard rose through the ranks at West Ham United with his father Frank Lampard snr part of the backroom staff.

The player's first experience of the professional game came with Swansea City, for whom he played 11 games during a loan spell at the start of the 1995/96 season.

And he made his debut for West Ham on the final day of that campaign, as a 70th minute replacement for Keith Rowland in a 1-1 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday, aged 17.

The midfielder gradually became more important to the Hammers and by 1997/98 was a first team regular despite still being a teenager. He was an ever present for the Hammers during 1998/99.

Lampard's performances gained the attention of the England coaching staff, and he made his full debut against Belgium in October 1999.

Lampard, however, failed to hold a place in Kevin Keegan's squad and missed out on Euro 2000 but was captain of the Under-21 side in the European Championships.

He was looking to further his international ambitions long-term after being named in Sven Goran Eriksson's first squad selection.

The midfielder replaced Paul Scholes for the second-half against Spain, Eriksson's first game in charge, in February 2001 and looked perfectly at home in England's midfield, spraying passes to all parts of the pitch as England won the friendly 3-0.

Lampard left West Ham in the summer of 2001 after his father, along with manager Harry Redknapp, had also departed. He moved across London to join Chelsea for £11million.
At the time many laughed at Chelsea's decision to spend such a vast amount of money on a player who had never really set the Premiership on fire. It would turn out to be one of the all-time bargains.

He had a slow start to his Chelsea career after making his debut in a 1-1 home draw with Newcastle United, sent off in only his fourth game, at Tottenham Hotspur, and he would not score his first Premiership goal for the club until Christmas.

Despite remaining in the England reckoning, and with many predicting he would make the final 23 for the World Cup finals, Eriksson eventually chose to take former West Ham team-mate Joe Cole and Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves to Japan.

Understandably, given the strong competition for places, he found it hard to break into the England midfield and made a disappointing return to the national side in the 3-1 defeat to Australia in February 2003.

But after impressive start to the 2003/4 season he retained his place in the squad and scored his first international goal as England beat Croatia 3-1 in a friendly at Portman Road in August.
It was that same season that Lampard truly began to come of age. He would win numerous plaudits for his energetic displays in the Chelsea midfield to leave people calling for him to become an England regular.

Amid the uncertainty caused by the influx of Chelsea's expensive summer signings it was Lampard who blossomed to be the only ever present in 2003/04.
He scored ten Premiership goals that season, and 15 in total, before being a star turn at Euro 2004.

Lampard bagged three goals in four games as England reached the quarter-finals, cementing a place for himself in the starting line-up. He would go on to be named in UEFA's squad of the tournament.

If Lampard's performances were good before, by 2004/05 they had become exceptional. He scored 13 Premiership goals - only Robert Pires, Andrew Johnson and Thierry Henry scored more - as the Blues won the title, plus the Carling Cup.

Lampard scored 19 goals in total for Chelsea, plus a further three for England.
That form earned him the Football Writers' Player of the Year Award.

He began 2005/06 in blistering form, topping the scoring charts four months into the campaign.
The midfielder had also added to his international tally, scoring in both the final two World Cup qualifying games - the only goal of the game against Austria and then a late winner against Poland to take England to Germany as group winners.
Whereas before he could be dubbed one of the Premiership's best, he is now one of the top midfielders in the world.

And he underlined that by finished second to Barcelona's Ronaldinho in both the European and World Player of the Year awards.
After helping Chelsea to consecutive Premiership titles, Lampard undoubtedly had a woeful World Cup as his decline on the international stage began.
Lampard couldn't hit the proverbial barn door throughout the tournament as England laboured to the quarter-finals before losing to Portugal on penalties.

And since then Lampard has suffered a crisis of confidence, failing to perform for the national team and losing the support of the fans.

But Lampard's goal return for Chelsea continues to be out of this world. He bagged a further 22 goals in 2006/07 which took his tally to 90 goals in just 329 games for the west London club.
He is the top scoring midfielder in Chelsea's history and their 10th highest of all time.
At the same time, though, there was a doubt about his future at Chelsea as talks stalled on a new contract. And as he was at the stage whereby he could be bought out of the remainder of his contract Europe's biggest clubs were circling like vultures.
He remains the king of deflected goals