Frank Lampard has something to say. Rather a lot to say, in fact. For a start, he wants to say that his heart will always be with Chelsea, that he is determined to make up for lost time when he finally joins New York City in July but that, until then, he will be fiercely committed to Manchester City.

He knows what some — in New York, in west London and elsewhere — are thinking. He has heard the accusations that he and City tried to deceive his past and future employers in using his pre-contract agreement with New York as a sleight-of-hand trick to engineer a transfer to one of Chelsea’s rivals.

He had intended just to keep his head down and let his