Parker happy to be centre of attention

There are many Chelsea fans who feel that the team will be improved by Parker's presence in the middle. Makelele impressed following his £16.6m signing from Real Madrid but his performances have diminished since Christmas, even before his disgraceful dive in Monaco, to such an extent that he may be available in the club's bumper summer sale.

Parker, by contrast, is one of the core of young English players whose potential the next team will be built around, and the prospect of a midfield partnership with Frank Lampard, both combative and creative in equal measure - in the way Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit were for Arsenal - quickens the pulse.

And having experience a similar career development to his midfield partner, Parker is determined to match his achievements.

"I'd love to play alongside Frank but there are so many good players at Chelsea I'm just happy to be part of the squad," he said. "I think I can play with Frank and I'd have to adapt my game. There was a year at Charlton when I played quite defensively and it's part of my game which I can develop. I have that defensive ability and can certainly put my foot in.

"It's people like Frank you try to emulate. Like me he came from a smaller club in London and started out playing out wide, so he's someone I look up to. He's gone onto great things and is doing really well for Chelsea. He's been absolutely brilliant and finishing second behind Thierry Henry in the PFA Player of the Year Award says it all."

While Lampard's acceptance speech must wait for another time, Parker was forced to put his season into words after being named as the PFA's Young Player of the Year. Although destined for stardom from a young age after those ball-juggling appearances in a McDonald's advert nothing could have prepared him for the whirlwind success of the past nine months.

After starting the season with rave reviews following some excellent performances for Charlton he began to pick up more tangible rewards in the form of a first England cap, a £40,000-a-week contract at Chelsea and that Young Player of the Year Trophy. No wonder the emotion appeared to be too much for him last week when he accepted the award.

Parker said: "My life has changed this year and it's been huge for me. If you'd told me a year ago I'd be playing in the Champions League semifinal, I wouldn't have believed it and everything's happened so quickly. It was pretty tough at the PFA dinner as it's been such a massive year and that was the icing on the cake. To be voted the best young player by fellow professionals was fantastic and I was very emotional. It's a great achievement and one I'm very proud of."

Parker reserved most praise in his acceptance speech for former manager Alan Curbishley and refuses to be blamed for Charlton's disappointing end to the season.

"When I walk into the players lounge after a game the first thing I ask is how Charlton have got on," he said. "It'd be easy for Charlton fans to blame me for their slump but they're a team and it's not all down to me. I was just one player in a brilliant team. When I was at the club there were dips at the end of the season.

"I'm going to be the baddie because that's the way society is and that's the way life is. You always have to have a baddie and I'm one of them in their eyes. It disappoints me but you've got to get on with it."

Charlton fans may never forgive Parker for leaving in the middle of the season but reaching the Champions League final would represent the strongest possible vindication.