MLS commissioner Don Garber confirms that Lampard will be moving to his league.
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber appears to have confirmed that former England midfielder Frank Lampard will be joining expansion club New York City FC in July, despite recent reports to the contrary, report the Express, whilst he has also suggested that the whole saga of his Etihad Stadium loan extension could’ve been handled better by the parties involved.
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Lampard’s loan move to the Etihad Stadium, which was initially due to expire this month, was extended until the end of the season this week, leading to much consternation in the USA amongst fans and officials of New York City, who had expected the midfield goal machine to be available for the starts of the new MLS season.
The former Chelsea star has proven to be more important to Manuel Pellegrini’s plans for the season than expected, however, as he showed with a fantastic header to clinch a 3-2 victory over Sunderland on New Year’s Day, with Lampard also starting the FA Cup third round victory over Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.
Caster has admitted that the whole affair could’ve been handled better, with Lampard’s arrival in January perhaps having been an optimistic proposition from the start for a designated player, but he did seem to confirm that the midfielder would be arriving Stateside in July, despite some reports indicating that the move could be extended further:
“But we need to work hard now to move forward and recognise that Frank will be joining this team in July along with other designated players, who throughout the history of the designated player program have almost always joined in July.”
“If there was an error in judgment on this, it was not just coming out [at the start] and announcing that he would come in July and figuring out how to manage the start of the season, no different than what happened with Robbie Keane or Thierry Henry or David Beckham [when they arrived in the MLS].”