Lampard rules out England retirement

England and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard insists that he has no intention of retiring from international football soon.

The 33-year-old has been a mainstay in the national set-up for over a decade, gaining 90 appearances in the process, and is set to feature in his fourth international campaign this year in Euro 2012.

Lampard is the oldest member of the England squad travelling to Poland and Ukraine but claims that the competition will be not necessarily mark his tournament swansong.

“I don’t see myself retiring from international football in the near future, so I wouldn’t call this my last tournament necessarily,” Lampard said.

“But I’m no fool and I know that age is a factor.

“I will take this as potentially one of my last chances. In the Champions League I had that same mind-set.”

England manager Roy Hodgson has just one more friendly game, following last Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Norway, to assess the squad before leading the Three Lions into their first group game against France on June 11, but Lampard believes his new international boss could take hope from the impact of Roberto Di Matteo at Chelsea.

“It’s certainly possible to create something very quickly, there’s no magic formula in football. You can have the right preparation and the surroundings for a tournament,” he said.

“But in my opinion man-management is of the utmost importance in top football these days. When you’ve got a very good squad of players, of course there’s training and tactics and stuff which are important. But the man-management issue at Chelsea was the huge thing.

“Robbie took players aside and talked to them and made them feel confident. He brought the best out of them, and when you can do that you’ve got a chance. If England can do that as a group then I still think we’ve got a great chance.”