Manchester City will increase their efforts to extend Frank Lampard’s loan from New York City FC after Yaya Touré confirmed his participation at the Africa Cup of Nations in January following the Ivory Coast’s draw with Cameroon on Wednesday in Abidjan.
The tournament, now to be staged in Equatorial Guinea, starts on 17 January and if Ivory Coast were to reach the final this would mean Touré’s involvement until 8 February. As the midfielder would be required to join up with the squad before the event, Manuel Pellegrini faces being without the 31-year-old for more than a month.
The manager previously indicated it not be “impossible” for Lampard to stay the whole season, despite the original agreement being for him to return to City’s sister club in January.
Asked in September if Lampard could remain for all of the campaign, Pellegrini said: “We will do what is best for the team and the player. We must talk about a lot of things but it is not impossible for him to stay here. It is an issue that we will see further down the line. We will see what happens in January and we have two or three months to decide.”
There is also the possibility that New York City will have a training camp in January at the champions’ new Academy, with the US club also exploring playing friendlies in the north-west then. If so this would allow Lampard to remain at City while becoming integrated with his new club.
The MLS season does not start until mid-March.
