Jose Mourinho must be running out of superlatives to describe his midfield ace Frank Lampard, who the Chelsea boss believes is a 'unique' talent. Lamps has captained the Blues in the absence of John Terry, who made a brief return at the weekend, and his winner against Charlton on Saturday was his eighth goal in nine games.
Little wonder he's just been voted Fans' Player of the Month, and little wonder that Chelsea will do everything in their power to keep the England midfielder away from the clutches of Barcelona, Real Madrid and the like. Mourinho remains in no doubt as to the importance of Lampard's role within the Chelsea squad.
"Lampard has been a fantastic captain and great example for everybody," he said. "He was the leader on the pitch, absolutely fantastic. For me, he is unique. There is no other player like him. You can find a player who defends very well in midfield, one who has a great shot, another one with a great long pass.
"Frank has everything, with the way he defends, the way he presses, his position and his choices - and his number of goals. For a midfielder to score 15 or 20 goals a season is something unique, it is fabulous."
The Blues' boss, meanwhile, says John Terry is ready to lead out England in Wednesday's friendly against Spain, despite only making a five-minute appearance at Charlton after being out for nearly two months with a back injury.
"I hope JT plays a period of the game with Spain and then comes back to us ready for the game against Middlesbrough," said Mourinho. "He is ready, that is why he played five minutes against Charlton."
He added: "I have an open communication with Steve McClaren and we have spoken a lot, so he knows he is ready. He knows he needs special care in terms of therapy and he is not ready for 90 minutes, that is for sure.
"But that is only because of his physical condition so he can still start with JT and then decide to take him off. I am certainly happy for him to be involved because I want to see England do well."
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate, however, has warned England boss Steve McClaren that defender Jonathan Woodgate should not be over-exerted while on international duty having been finally recalled to the national squad.
Southgate said after the 1-1 draw with Arsenal: "Jonathan will have to be careful with his training as much as anything because normally in the early part of the week, he would not do very much training with us. I am sure the medical team there will keep a close eye on him. He was a bit tight after the game, but I know he wants to be involved and he wants to play."
England boss Steve McClaren says Portsmouth pair David James and Sol Campbell still have an international future. "I would have no hesitation calling either David or Sol into the squad," revealed McClaren. "I saw them both play for Portsmouth at Manchester United last week and Sol in particular was outstanding.
"I know David has had a great season too and is one of the main reasons why Portsmouth have climbed so high in the table. The door is not closed on them by any means. I am keeping a very close eye on them but this is a friendly, and I want to use it to have a look at other things."
