Swansea made Lampard offer before retirement

Swansea City made an offer to Frank Lampard prior to his retirement from football.

Manager Paul Clement, who worked with Lampard during his time as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant at Chelsea, has confirmed he was keen to snap up the 38-year-old and made an approach.

Despite having recently received offers to play in the Premier League, Lampard announced his retirement on Thursday.

Clement revealed he was keen to bring Lampard to Wales and praised the former England international’s accomplishments after his decision to call it quits.

“I would have loved to have had him here,” Clement told reporters. 

“So I would be lying if I said I did not try. But I think he was moving towards the decision he made.

“I fully respect that. We had a chat and he appreciated I had called because of our relationship. I am not saying it was close – it did not go very far – but it would have been nice.

“It would be great to see Frank continue in the game of football. I am sure he will think about it over the next weeks and months.

“He has got a lot to offer and I would like to say congratulations to him on such a wonderful career.”

Clement, speaking ahead of Swansea’s Premier League away match with Manchester City, added: “I had the pleasure to work with him very closely for two-and-a-half seasons at Chelsea.

“I knew him before that because I was at the club in the youth department. I have kept in contact with Frank right up until very recently. I had a couple of messages with him.

“What a fantastic player. What an amazing playing career. A great midfielder and one of the most outstanding goalscoring midfielders that the world has ever seen. 

“The fact that at his peak he was scoring 20 goals a season from midfield is an incredible statistic, a lot of Premier League strikers would be proud of those numbers.”