6 iconic footballers who announced their retirement in 2016/17

Frank Lampard

Lampard played his final career game early this season with New York City FC

Not many midfielders make their way into the top 5 of a league’s all-time goalscoring charts but Frank Lampard is not like other midfielders. The Chelsea legend has scored a whopping 177 goals from midfield in the Premier League which makes him the 4th highest goalscorer in Premier League history and Steven Gerrard in 16th with 120 Premier League goals is the next midfielder in this list.

Lampard was a key figure for the Chelsea side that went on to win numerous honours during the Abramovich era although he was a Chelsea player before the Russian arrived. He went on to score 211 goals for Chelsea in 648 appearances while winning 3 league titles, 4 FA Cups, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.

Overall, he played 913 career games scoring 274 goals at club level and also has 106 caps for England scoring 26 times.

Lampard last played for MLS side, New York City FC and the left the club when his contract expired in November 2016. However, he only announced his retirement in February 2017.