Frank Lampard: I Joined Manchester City To Test Myself
One of the main storylines of this Premier League season so far has been the presence and play of Chelsea FC legend Frank Lampard at Manchester City. The midfielder has scored three goals in the last three matches with a dramatic equalizer against Chelsea and a brace against Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup.
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Frank Lampard’s scoring form has lead to questions of whether or not Chelsea made a mistake in letting one of their legends go but that is neither here nor there at this point. There have been rumors that Manchester City want to extend his loan until February and Lampard addressed it by saying “I think the important thing for me is to play well if I can, train well and then we’ll see what happens. I’m signed here until January so that’s all I can say at the minute.”
The MLS season and NYC FC’s inaugural season begins in March 2015 and the rumors suggest that because Frank Lampard is match fit so he will not need a preseason with the club. That is a nonsensical argument because no matter how fit he may be he still needs to get to know his teammates and develop a chemistry with them before the regular season begins. Lampard saw the opportunity to join Manchester City as a way to stay fit and also as a way to keep testing himself at the highest level.
Frank Lampard on why he joined Manchester City:
"It’s a funny one for me because my intentions were to have a longer holiday and then train maybe on my own with a fitness coach. I was in pure holiday mode when I got the call to come back here. I’ve had a really good pre-season now. Considering I wasn’t involved in the first few games, that’s been extra training time for me.“I feel good and I’m just actually really enjoying training and playing. The lads are great, the people behind the scenes have welcomed me, the staff, the manager, Brian Kidd. It’s been an easy transition. It’s very different, I was at Chelsea such a long time that you just go on auto-pilot in the end. You drive in every day, you know everybody behind the scenes.“It was a tester for me to be honest. I didn’t have to make this decision. But it was a very good opportunity for me to play at this level and train at this level, and it’s a personal test to come up to Manchester. I was in very much of a comfort zone at Chelsea. It’s good to test yourself in life.“All I can say is I am enjoying it. I’ve always been proud of my fitness and trying to keep as fresh as I can. At the end of the day, I’m very fortunate. Not many players get the opportunity at 36 to come and play amongst this amount of quality. When you look around the dressing room, there’s so much of it, and it’s an honour to come in and be able to play amongst that.”Source: Eurosport"
Even if Frank Lampard is fitting in with his new club, extending his stay until February does not make much sense from a footballing standpoint. He needs time to develop chemistry with his NYC FC teammates and a month in February after a grueling half season in the Premier League is not the ideal situation. Hopefully he leaves City in January as intended and this nightmare for Chelsea fans can end as soon as possible.
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