Frank Lampard: Hard work is the key unless you are Lionel Messi

Frank Lampard has come face to face with Leo Messi a number of times in his Chelsea career

In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Frank Lampard who has oodles of footballing experience under his belt shares his wisdom on what youngsters need to do to get ahead in the game.

The MLS bound midfielder said: “I have to credit my dad and Harry [Redknapp] a lot for what I learned at West Ham.

“I learned the basics well and because of dad, I took that home with me as well as the lessons on the training pitch.

“These days, we probably over-complicate it a bit but there are certain basics you need to teach young kids who want to be footballers and those lessons stay forever.

“What are basics? Hard work, particularly on your technique. Unless you happen to be a Lionel Messi, there is no magic wand. The rest of us have to graft.”

He added: “If I was a father of a young player now I wouldn’t be telling him to go and sign for this club because they’re offering a few quid.

“That sets the tone for the boy. I would be telling him, ‘look son, you’re still a million miles away from where you want to be, even if you dip your toe in the first team’.

“I’d be saying, ‘be strong mentally, look after yourself, and don’t get involved in social media nonsense’. I don’t want to sound like a taskmaster because there’s a balance but I remember one of my and John Terry’s bugbears when I was at Chelsea was young players turning up for training in their flash cars and sitting in the Jacuzzi talking on their mobile phones.

“It might sound unimportant but I can assure them it makes a big difference.”

On Chelsea

Frank Lampard made the switch to Chelsea in 2001 for a cool £11 million. The move came under some fire because number of critics felt the West London club had overpaid for the young midfielder. However, the things that he has since achieved at the club has silenced all his critics.

He reminisced about the 2004-05 title winning team, saying, “The Chelsea team we had in 2005, when we first won the title, was special for me.

“We had Arjen Robben, Damien Duff and Joe Cole – three wingers for two places – Didier Drogba and Eidur Gudjohnsen up front with Claude Makelele holding in midfield.

“That rivals any other Premier League team for me. We were a mixture of everything. It is a team which has sometimes been given a bad name outside the club, accused of being efficient and winning games 1-0. In reality we were bashing teams, Robben flying down one wing and Duff the other.

“We beat teams 4-0 but when we couldn’t do that, we still won 1-0 and that was the beauty of that team.

“We had finished second to Arsenal the year before but there was a feeling right through the club that we would win it in 2005. It was Jose Mourinho’s first year at Chelsea and he had brought a mindset with him.

“I don’t know how they compare with the Chelsea team who won the title this season but they were the best Chelsea team I played in. We also had a really good team under Carlo Ancelotti when we won the championship but we weren’t as consistent. That 2005 team was a bit of machine, possibly more so than the Chelsea team this year.”

Lampard spent his last Premier League season at Manchester City and will now head for the MLS with New York City FC. He will join Spain striker David Villa at the club. Even his friendly rivalry with Steven Gerrard is set to continue as the former Liverpool man will join LA Galaxy.

If Lampard can have the same impact in the MLS as he did in the Premier League, it might be a space to watch.