Frank Lampard says he is worried about leaving his two daughters behind when he moves to America to play for New York City FC next year.
The former Chelsea midfielder, who is currently playing for Manchester City, has been lined up as one of the top stars at the Major League Soccer club when the US season starts in March.
But Lampard, 36, who is engaged to TV presenter Christine Bleakley, said he will miss his girls Luna, nine, and Isla, seven, when he moves.
He said: “I’m fortunate enough with the girls that they are going to come out and have their holidays out there. I hope it will be a life experience for them too. I will make it work. We’re lucky in the modern day with FaceTime and Skype. I will miss them a lot.
“I want to make sure that when I come back nothing has changed. I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen But it’s my job — I have to do it and I want to do it. You don’t know what comes afterwards. I do love playing football. When I was released by Chelsea I didn’t want to stop.”
Lampard, who is promoting his eighth children’s book Frankie Saves Christmas, said Bleakley will join him in New York but fly back when necessary.
He told The Times: “We are very close, we’re not good apart. We’re not the kind of couple who would live long-distance very much, so I think Christine will come but she will have to come back to work.
“We’re a bit of a team and I would never say to Christine, ‘I don’t want you doing that ’cos I want you to sit here with me’, because maybe professionally she wouldn’t want to do that.
“In an ideal world we’ll be together most of the time and when she has to come back [for work], she does.”
Lampard spilt from Spanish model Elen Rivas, the mother of his daughters, in 2009.
