Sorry Frank Lampard, 28 Is Now Old for a Footballer

When discussing Michael Schumacher yesterday a great point was made. On the way up you have a bad season with 1 good race and people say you are promising. When you are at the top you have a good year but 1 bad race and you are past it. Pretty much allegorical to Rooney and Lampard! Rooney who can forget the shimmy that made fools of 2 Polish defenders last year or the skinning of an Ecuador centre half who mistakenly tracked the Roon out to the touchline and was still looking at the crowd as the kid was half way to the goal - only for Frank to blaze the pass high wide and handsome. The fact he has been next to ineffective has not stopped him [WR] racking up man of the match awards and highlight reels. On the way up you are god and talent is all but plateau or get to a certain age and fall off for a period and....

On Sky Jimmy Hill was suggesting at 28 Frank Lampard was in the prime of his footballing life. If it does not expose too much of my middle classness like a fine wine the rough tannic edges has smoothed and there was still plenty of fruit left. Frank Lampard might reflect on this when he reads the papers. Then again like an ageing good wine maybe the rough edges have smoothed and the fruit fallen off too and he is on the decline and should drink now while he can.

At 28 Beckham and Vieira were commonly perceived as still being good yet some of us were suggesting that would be a good age to sell them. As it was Vieira's club waited a year and took half price with his decline obvious. Possibly Chelsea would have been wise to shop Lampard. Certainly unlike others the 3 named here put in 3 or 4 years of amazing work rate and performance but it seems that playing 70 games a year at the at level in midfield wears down even the stoutest of athletes - mentally as much as physically?

Statistically Frank is still a pheonom and capable in games he supposedly hardly is in for making a mountain of passes, tackles and ground coverage. Even at his best it was only the goals, assists and the success of the team that stood out for many watchers. Never mind his famously lottery shooting got more goals per shot than Gerrard or Rooney last few years. Compared to the flashier and less consistent physical talents of Gerrard and Rooney he will always look more artisan than artist. However for a player who traded on work rate and consistency over a 70+ game season even the perception he is in a form trough, probably not helped by Chelsea's complete lack of shape or definitive style at present after buying square pegs Shevchenko and Ballack, is damaging. As an aside Sheva in particular must be grateful that his simmering indifference to 90% of the game, perfectly OK in Italy, is being covered up by questions about someone else.

The point is not to damn Lampard or even 28 year old players. Indeed it may just be the guys get to stage in life where they get married and settled or unsettled in Beckham's case and other things mean more. However to their clubs the maths is this: you can get 20+ million for them: wait a year and that falls off markedly because they will be all but 30: that is before considering they may then be viewed not as good: they are probably worth much less at the end of their current contract: if you extend their contract you may have to write off the last few years: they may not be the player, due to age as much as anything, that a top 60+ game a season club needs. It is sad but true and it is even sadder that rather than note decline journalists have to make it personal as though the player is doing it deliberately, when they would do the nation a greater service giving the Wayne Rooneys and especially Jermain Defoes ammunition to "prove people wrong" rather than wasting their talent as at present.