Frank Lampard is poised to sign a short-term loan deal with Manchester City.
The former Chelsea midfielder has already agreed to join City’s MLS team but they will not begin playing until March.
Lampard instantly rejected the chance to play in Melbourne at their other new venture Down Under and although QPR are leading the chase for his signature, the 36-year-old favours a spell with Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
The shock move will enable Lampard to keep fit and providing there are no last minute hitches, Etihad chiefs will register him for their Premier League and Champions League squads.
It is a move which is believed to suit both parties with City keen to boost their own quota of English players in a squad packed full of foreign imports while Lampard, who has yet to announce his international retirement, will remain in England manager Roy Hodgson’s gaze.
Pellegrini’s side are in Minneapolis ahead of tonight’s International Champions Cup game with Olympiakos (kick-off: 23:00, UAE time) and, even if they reach Monday’s final in Miami, will return to England on Tuesday.
They hope to have Lampard training with them ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield match against Arsenal.
The move will raise eyebrows up and down the Premier League, no more so than at Stamford Bridge where Lampard earned legendary status after 13 trophy-filled years in West London.
The two clubs meet in the Premier League on September 21.
Etihad chief executive Ferran Soriano, who has been working tirelessly on both sides of the Atlantic, has already admitted the two clubs could well swap players for the good of both. “We have some very bright star players, young players in Europe we might ask them to come to New York to play before they play at Manchester City,” he admitted.
Porto’s French defender Eliaquim Mangala is set to seal his protracted move next week which will bring an end to Pellegrini’s summer spending.
Soriano added: “We have a new right back, a new holding midfielder and we will have a new central defender and that’s it.
“We don’t need to sign new players for the sake of it. We need to sign the players that the team needs because the team has a balance.
“To win you need to keep the balance. Our squad is very strong and it’s the second year they play coached by Manuel Pellegrini so they’ll do much better.”
Meanwhile, City’s tour here could come to an uncomfortable end with the pitch at the TCF Bank Stadium only laid in the past week.
Pellegrini is not happy with the pitch and, with Liverpool playing four hours after City’s match, the squad will be left in limbo waiting to see if they will be required to travel to Miami for Monday’s final match.
