With Manchester City’s ‘shock’ announcement that Frank Lampard will be returning to the Premier League to play for the Sky Blues until January, it is worth considering just how much of a surprise the news was and just what precedent this will set.
Over the weekend the back pages were filled with the revelation that the ex-Chelsea star will be signing on loan until January before heading back to New York City FC to prepare for the start of the MLS season in March.
Of course it is widely known that New York City FC is a joint venture between Manchester City and the New York Yankees, with the Premier League champions also owning Melbourne City FC in Australia.
Earlier in the summer there were rumours that City could be looking to purchase a club in the far-east and further whispers the club want to own as many as five clubs in total around the world.
With Manchester City limited to a 21-man squad that must include five home grown players in this season’s Champions League due to their breach of the new Financial Fair Play regulations, they need another approach to continue to supply new players to their first team, without transfer fees unbalancing the club’s books.
This is why the Lampard deal will not come as a great surprise to many in the game and could likely be the start of similar loan deals in the future.
It may be the case that any future marquee signing for New York City FC could well be plying their trade in Manchester for the first part of the Premier League season.
Despite Manuel Pellegrini’s insistence that the loan deal is just to maintain Lampard’s fitness ahead of the MLS season, it is clearly a situation that benefits the Sky Blues.
Of course it will be surprising if there are not loan deals moving the other way too.
With the demand for instant success throughout football higher than ever, more so from Manchester City’s oil rich owners, it is no surprise that blooding young players through the youth squad and the reserves is not the ideal option for the Sky Blues, such is the gulf in class from the reserves to the first team.
It would be far too much to ask of a youth team player who has impressed in training to slot into the team alongside the likes of David Silva, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, unless they are a real talent.
Clearly the MLS does not provide as stern a test as the Premier League but it will certainly allow the younger Man City players to test themselves against stronger opposition as well as playing alongside veterans such as Lampard and David Villa.
Manchester City’s model then seems to make perfect sense for a club that are clearly thinking about sustained success in the future.
However those clubs that do not have the financial clout to go to a different continent and purchase another club may feel that the financial fair play rules that were brought in to try to ensure that most clubs are competing on an even keel, are being side stepped.
Arsene Wenger has already expressed his concern at Manchester City’s acquisition of New York City FC and Melbourne and if other big spenders choose to follow suit it could lead to an unbridgeable gulf between those clubs on the periphery, such as Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool, and the multi-club franchises such as Manchester City.
So, can we expect the rest of the world’s footballing powerhouses to follow Manchester City in similar franchises?
It would certainly be a surprise if they did not as the benefits are clear to see both financially and also from a footballing point of view.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United… they cannot all continue to spend millions on new signings while abiding by the Financial Fair Play test and so the rise of the global super club may be set to continue, leaving the rest of the footballing world in their wake.
Main image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks.
