It will not have escaped Frank Lampard that while he, like John Terry, was named by José Mourinho last season as one of the Chelsea manager’s “untouchables”, he earns less than Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, who for long periods looked unstartable. Now that Terry, Lampard’s fellow England regular and essential component of Chelsea, has doubled his money and picks up £135,000 a week, Lampard is unlikely to settle for much, if any, less. But will the club give it to him?

In a month in which they have spent £13.5 million on Florent Malouda and committed £35 million over five years to Terry, Lampard may view Chelsea’s continued claims to be moving into a new era of parsimony and self-sustainability with some scepticism. The club could give Lampard whatever vast sum he wants. So why have they not, especially as, hailing the Terry accord yesterday, Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, emphasised that dishing out deals was a vital part of club strategy?

“As a club we are committed to try to keep our players together on long-term deals,” Kenyon said, “and this was a natural progression from last season, when other players also committed themselves for the long term.”

With two years left before Lampard can walk free, there is ample time. Anyway, the closer the player sidles to free agency and the need to impress as many suitors as possible, the sharper his performances may be. True, his transfer value will fall, but Roman Abramovich, the owner, would hardly notice.

Lampard has appeared in at least 35 Premiership games in each of his six seasons with Chelsea. That signals remarkable durability, but in two years, when he is 31, will so much football have taken its toll on a player who, if his physical abilities fall a fraction, may cease to be elite?

Last season the torpor and trauma of the World Cup seemed to cast a shadow and there was no quick, snug fit with Ballack in midfield. Even so, Lampard missed only one league game and scored 21 goals in all competitions.

Lack of options meant that Mourinho was not forced to choose between the pair. Ballack started only 23 times in the league because of injury and suspension, while Michael Essien had to chip in at the back and John Obi Mikel matured only late on. Now, Mourinho may be railroaded into a tough decision. His purchase of Malouda and intent to play an attacking 4-3-3 formation could squeeze one of the superstars out of a regular starting place.

Ballack would be favourite to be ousted – or moved on, and last night Bernd Schuster, the Real Madrid coach, said that the German would be a “perfect fit” at the Bernabéu. “I could well imagine having him in my team,” Schuster said.

Terry has no such concerns. For his wedding last month, he hired Blenheim Palace and served guests pie and mash. Posh pie and mash, certainly, but the message was clear: there is still grit amid the gilt. Exhibit A: the Carling Cup final in February. He was knocked unconscious by a kick to the head and yet returned from hospital two hours later to join in the victory celebrations.

Such courage is one reason why Mourinho has described Terry as the best central defender in the world. He is now the best-paid. Terry made himself indispensable, not just by his performances but by his absences. He missed two months with a back injury in the winter and the team’s defence subsided. To Chelsea, Terry, at the heart of club and country, represents qualities worth paying for.

With Lampard, the debate is less about values than value for money. He may not see it that way, but millionaires quibbling and quitting for the sake of an extra few grand is not something the public are very sympathetic about, as Ashley Cole could testify.

From rags to riches

£1
Pounds per week earned by Blackburn Rovers’ top players in the late 1880s, when the FA allowed clubs to become professional

£12
Maximum weekly wage for players in 1947

£100
Jimmy Hill, secretary of the Professional Footballers’ Association at the time, successfully agitated for the abolition of the maximum wage in 1961 and Johnny Haynes became the first £100-a-week player

£1,000
George Best turned his superstar status into a ground-breaking contract, earning four figures a week in 1968

£50,000
Roy Keane’s new deal with Manchester United in 1999 set the standard for the agents of big names when negotiating a weekly wage

£100,000
Sol Campbell left Tottenham Hotspur for Arsenal in 2001 and became the best-paid player in British history, breaking the six-figure mark on a weekly basis

–– David Beckham has been ruled out of Los Angeles Galaxy’s SuperLiga match against Chivas Guadalajara tonight after failing to recover from an ankle injury.