A little more than 18 years ago, with his father Frank senior and Harry Redknapp sacked by West Ham and his own time at the club coming to an end, a 22-year-old Frank Lampard drove to Elland Road to talk to Leeds United’s then-manager, David O’Leary, about a possible move.

The other interested club were Chelsea, so Lampard also made the shorter trip across London to see Claudio Ranieri and, before he knew it, he was agreeing to sign for what turned out to be the best £11 million that the then cash-strapped club ever spent.

He laughs now at those “embarrassing” original chubby-faced pictures of him in a blue shirt for the first time, an east London boy in the west of the city where he instinctively felt a sense of belonging.

“Straightaway I could feel the size of the club,” he said. “Zola, Hasselbaink, Desailly. I came and signed. Sometimes it feels like you do something and you almost sleepwalk. All of a sudden you’re doing it. ‘I’m actually at Chelsea! How did this happen?’

“I remember signing, excited, drove back and there were some comments on the radio. It was actually West Ham fans saying ‘Good riddance’, that kind of thing.”