Frank Lampard Agreeing To Stay With Manchester City Is Not Surprising
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The new MLS season starts in March, but Frank Lampard will not be competing from the opening kickoff. The Premier League legend has unsurprisingly agreed to extend his loan spell from New York City FC to Manchester City until the end of the current EPL season.
Lampard has provided some valuable goals for City in his initial four months with the club, and his run with the EPL champions will now extend beyond the start of the MLS season. It’s not a surprising announcement and one which was pretty much expected, but the impact will be felt in New York.
Lampard was the headline signing for NYCFC and his leadership and quality was to lead the franchise as they embarked on their first season in MLS. Now, though, those qualities will be sorely missed without Lampard around in the early stages of the season. The midfielder should arrive in New York sometime in June with the English domestic season ending in in the final week of May and then the UEFA Champions League final — were City to make it — taking place on June 6.
Both clubs are owned by the same Abu Dhabi owners, and unfortunately for NYCFC fans, at this specific point in time, the ongoing defense of the EPL champions crown is clearly taking precedence over a team that has barely formed a starting XI as of yet. City, for their part, should have planned for Lampard’s exit at this stage of the season, but with Yaya Toure about to leave for Africa Cup of Nations duty, City are very thin in that area of the team.
Lampard also adds goals and championship experience to City, as well as helping with the club’s necessitated English quota; he’s a great fit on so many levels for the EPL champions. However, Lampard was also a perfect fit for a young and growing franchise like NYCFC. Unfortunately, though, only one team can have him at any one time, and until June 2015, that team will be the City of Manchester, not the City of New York.
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