Frank Lampard reveals that he had heard a rumor about David Silva prior to joining Manchester City, and it turned out to be true when he spent a night out with the Spanish player.
Many were taken aback when Lampard opted to join Manchester City, the defending Premier League champions, ahead of the 2014/15 season, following 13 successful years at rival club Chelsea.
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Nearly a decade after that transfer, the former midfielder has confessed that it was a challenging decision to sign for City considering his strong ties to the West London club.
Nevertheless, the opportunity to prolong his career at the highest level proved too enticing to resist.
“It was tough because my career had been so long at Chelsea,” he told Manchester City’s official website in an interview.
“If I’m honest, I’d never envisaged playing anywhere else in the Premier League but the pull of Manchester City was huge.”
Lampard added: “I was proud that City, who were champions at the time, wanted to take me on board at 36-years-old.
“When I spoke to Manuel at the time in New York, he felt I could help the squad because he thought they needed some experience in there.
“I took the leap because it was a top club at the time and was going to be, I thought, another great experience for me and a great opportunity to stay in the Premier League, which is the greatest in the world.
“There were a lot of pluses. But I did toy with it a bit because of my association with Chelsea.”
In addition to touching on various other topics, the 45-year-old also discussed Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, and David Silva, expressing how it was a tremendous “honour” to have shared the field with them.
Praising Aguero as one of the finest strikers he ever played alongside, Lampard lauded Kompany as an exceptional leader. He then went on to marvel at Silva’s extraordinary talent and charismatic personality.
“David was quiet around the place but what an incredible player,” he said.
“I noticed it first in training and he was of the highest, highest level. He was right up there. But his humility as a lad made him even more special to me because he had zero ego.
“He just came in, did his job and did it a high, high level. So he was a true pleasure to play with. I always reference David because of his talent but also his personality. He was incredible.”
Lampard would later speak about the side of Silva that really stood out for him.
“He liked a night out with the lads too. I’d heard a rumour about this before I joined. But I thought ‘no chance!’ We had a couple of nights where he was there on the beers. He’d be there until the end of the night.
“He was very friendly, very nice, enjoying himself, a lovely guy.”
