With the issue of gay people in professional sports a hot topic, former England soccer midfielder Frank Lampard has said he would love if a player “came out and everyone treated it with respect”

With the issue of gay people in professional sports a hot topic, former England soccer midfielder Frank Lampard has said he would love if a player “came out and everyone treated it with respect," reports the Independent.

Lampard (36), who currently plays for Manchester City, was speaking with Alan Carr on Chatty Man last weekend.

The former Chelsea midfielder said the notion that all soccer players are “macho” doesn't hold true and that attitudes towards sexuality on and off the pitch have changed significantly.

Carr suggested that of “fifty-thousand professional footballers, one of them must be [gay].”

Lampard replied:

“I think a lot of the problem is, as you say, it's a fact that it will be out there, as it is in all modern life at all times, but I think we are probably at fault as a sport. I think that it's that old syndrome where it's a man's game and you can't talk about that. I have to say the game's changing a lot.

“There are a lot of campaigns. I feel it in the dressing room. There's a different feel about it. I would love it if someone came out and everyone treated it with respect. You know that thing about ‘we're macho we play football', is very old hat.”

In recent years, a number of players – including Arsenal stars Theo Walcott, Mikel Arteta, Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – publicly supported Stonewall's Rainbow Laces campaign.

Former Leeds player Robbie Rogers came out shortly before retiring in 2013 while Aston Villa's Thomas Hitzlsperger followed in 2014.

In 1990, Justin Fashanu suffered sever homophobic abuse after coming out and later committed suicide following sexual assault allegations.

Watch an interview with Robbie Rogers, AFTER THE JUMP…