Report: LA Galaxy hold Frank Lampard's rights

LA Galaxy fans are well aware of the persuasive powers of Tim Leiweke, so the details of this article describing Leiweke wooing Jermain Defoe to Toronto shouldn't be too surprising. One note in the article did stand out, and that's the LA Galaxy holding the rights to Chelsea's Frank Lampard.

The article mentions that in the process of pursuing Defoe, Leiweke also met with Frank Lampard and Samuel Eto'o. The meeting with Lampard was considered more of a courtesy because the LA Galaxy hold his MLS rights.

This could mean that the Galaxy have a Discovery Claim on Lampard, which can seem silly from the outside. How can a club claim to have discovered Lampard. It is possible that during their period of trying to sign Lampard there was a legitimate offer made. That's just speculation.

There were reports in December that Lampard would eye a move to MLS at the end of his current season. Lampard would be 36 in the summer, one year younger than David Beckham was in his last year with the Galaxy.

It's also possible that LA could receive compensation if another MLS was interested in signing him this sumer.