Right now, Frank Lampard is a double-edged sword for NYCFC. While every goal is immediately a vindication for the money spent on the Englishman, every goal springs new rumors of him staying with Manchester City. Sunday was no different as his goal against Southampton lifted his club into second place in the Premier League standings.
Yet while a brace in the Premier League might have NYCFC cheering, the rumors of him staying in England for a protracted period might not. Goal.com UK has reported that Manchester City is looking to extend Lampard’s deal through March of next year. His loan deal is currently set to end in January 2015.
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In July, NYCFC announced that they had signed Lampard to a two year deal after leaving Chelsea. The club in August then announced that they had agreed to loan the striker to Manchester City for six months. NYCFC will begin play in MLS in 2015.
Although Lampard is 35 years old, his form has been rather good with Manchester City. He currently has 5 goals with the club and has made 11 appearances with the club.
Manchester City coach Manuel Pellgrini spoke about the rumors before the match stating, “”We are going to talk to all the parties and make a decision in December. If all parties agree then maybe we can keep him, but it could be that we want to keep him and Frank wants to go.”
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Lampard himself has been rather tight-lipped on the subject, telling Sky Sports that “I haven’t spoke to them on that front at all, I’ve been concentrating week to week and getting fit when I was injured for a while..”
While a longer loan is not necessarily a bad thing for NYCFC (the season does start in March) not having Lampard for the start of the season does mean that he will have to learn the playing style of MLS on the fly. Many European players have struggled to adapt to the training physical grind of MLS by entering either mid-or late season. Plus at 36 one has to wonder how Lampard will do having not had a break from club or international duty for over two years.
There is also the larger question of how this will affect the player management structure between Manchester City and NYCFC. Both clubs are owned by the same ownership group, and have formed a sort of triangle partnership with Melbourne City in the Australian A-League. If players who were supposed to player for the lower teams just stay at Manchester City is that to the detriment of of teams like Melbourne City and NYCFC? Is the ultimate goal to make NYCFC and Melbourne City viable teams or just to develop young players and keep players fit for NYCFC?