Frank Lampard will join up with Manchester
City next week as he begins a loan spell with the
Premier League champions.
Although the club have not yet officially
announced the deal, City boss Manuel Pellegrini
confirmed on Saturday night that the England
midfielder, who signed for City’s sister outfit
New York City FC this summer ending 13
trophy-laden years at Chelsea, will join up with
his team on Wednesday.
With the 2015 Major League Soccer season not
starting until the spring, there was speculation
that Lampard would head to Melbourne City,
the third club owned by the City Football
Group, on a short-term deal.
But following the friendly against Olympiacos in
Minneapolis, Pellegrini confirmed the 36-year-
old will now move to the Etihad until the new
year before the next American season begins in
March.

“As you know Frank has signed a contract with
New York City and will start working here (the
United States) in January as the season starts in
March,” Pellegrini told a post-match press
conference after his side lost a penalty shootout
against the Greek side.
“From next Wednesday he will start working
with our team and will play for us until then.
“At the moment he will work with the squad
and be a member of the squad. He will fight for
a position.
“He knows we have a very good team, we have
a lot of players in his position. He is one player
more.
“We have a lot of games particularly with the
Champions League – so he’s very important for
our team.”

The move had been mooted for 48 hours
previously with reports suggesting that
Lampard would be unwilling to face Chelsea on
September 21st.
And when prompted on the issue, Pellegrini
suggested he would be open to the possibility of
Lampard missing out against the Blues, although
there was no guarantee he would not feature
.
“I will talk about those things with him but he is
a player for Manchester City, he will play every
game that he needs to play,” he added.

Lampard was unveiled in New York on July 24th
and admitted he was eager to keep himself fit
ahead of his American adventure.

“I’m going to keep fit, that’s the main thing.
How I do that is not clear yet,” he said at his
presentation with the MLS side.
“I’m going to sit round with people at the club
and sort that out.”

Lampard began his career at West Ham but
moved to Stamford Bridge in 2001, making 649
appearances and becoming the Blues’ all-time
top scorer with 211 goals.

He will join Fernando, Bacary Sagna and Willy
Caballero as new arrivals at the Etihad over the
summer as City attempt to defend the title they
narrowly won ahead of Liverpool last term.

A successful defence would hand Lampard a
fourth Premier League crown to go with the
Champions League, Europa League, four FA
Cups and two League Cups he won at Stamford
Bridge.

Spaniard David Villa has been New York City
FC’s other high-profile signing ahead of their
MLS debut next year and he has also been
loaned out within the City system, moving to
Melbourne City to maintain his fitness ahead of
the American season.

A spell in the Premier League could also help
Lampard extend his England career, which has
so far seen him win 106 caps, scoring 29 goals.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/manuel-pellegrini-confirms-that-city-will-take-frank-lampard-on-loan-1.1886326