According to the Associated Press, Frank Lampard has signed a two-year deal with Major League Soccer to play for New York City FC.
If you are having a case of Deja Vu, then this announcement from July will tidy things up, as Lampard has finally put pen to paper to make his move to the U.S official.
[ RELATED: Lampard releases statement ]
Yes, we all thought that Lampard has already signed a deal with MLS and New York City FC as both parties announced it. But after plenty of new information arrived in the past few days, it has emerged that the 36-year-old actually signed a contract with Manchester City and there was “no deal in place” between Man City and their sister club New York City FC.
Lampard had in fact signed a permanent deal with Man City -- news of which had not been released to the public -- as fans of NYCFC were left outraged after buying season tickets for the clubs inaugural campaign believing that Lampard would be there from day one. Now, he will join up with his new team in July after extending what many thought was a ‘loan’ deal which was meant to last until Dec. 31, 2014, until the end of the current Premier League season.
So, despite Lampard’s lavish unveiling in the Big Apple last summer, he had only signed a deal with City Football Group which is the parent company owned by Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City, New York City FC and Melbourne City FC.
This whole episode has now come to an end, with Lampard reportedly signing with MLS. But how much will this saga hurt not only his reputation, but that of NYCFC, MLS and Man City? That remains to be seen, but let’s hope this is the last of the surprises ahead of the New York City FC’s first season in MLS.
Hopefully we can start to talk about the action on the pitch, soon.