Frank Lampard looks set for an emotional return to Stamford Bridge in January with Manchester City after it was revealed that his stay has been extended.
The Chelsea legend was close to tears after scoring a dramatic equaliser against his former club on Sunday.
The 36-year-old will now be available for a return to Stamford Bridge on January 31st and it was decided that he will join City’s US affiliate New York City FC a month later than first assumed.
The club sources confirm the move but insist that there has been no major change to Lampard’s loan agreement. The player was meant to return to New York in January to begin his pre-season training but City feels it will benefit both teams if he stays a little longer.
When Pellegrini was asked in a press conference for his Capital One cup tie tomorrow, he said:
‘I can’t answer about that in this moment. Frank will stay until January because until January he doesn’t have anything to do in the United States because they are not working.
‘In January, we will see what happens here and make a decision. It is not a problem in this moment.’
He also revealed that Sergio Aguero ,Samir Nasri and David Silva have picked up injuries against Chelsea and won’t feature in their game on Wednesday. Aguero and Silva should be available for Saturday’s game against Hull, as could Jovetic but Nasri is likely to miss out.
The City boss said: ‘For (Wednesday), not in the squad list, Sergio Aguero, who has a kick in his knee, David Silva has a problem in his ankle and Pablo Zabaleta is suspended. Fernando and Stevan Jovetic continue recovering from their injuries and Samir Nasri has a groin injury.
‘I suppose that David and Sergio will recover without any problem for Saturday, maybe Stevan can be, I don’t know or if he cannot play on Saturday he will be ready for Tuesday and Fernando and Nasri may be (out) until next week.
‘I think that all the players during this year, especially now we have to play seven games in 21 days, we have the opportunity to see what they can do. All of them are normally playing.
‘The only one that was not playing was (Eliaquim) Mangala because he had to work and it was very important for him to get used to the way we defend and then to make his first appearance in our team and he did very well.
The other is Scott Sinclair, for the moment he hasn’t played a game but all the other players are always playing normally.’
Pellegrini insisted that he did not mean to criticise Chelsea after Sunday’s 1-1 draw, saying they played ‘like a small team’ by being so defensive.
He added: ‘I said that we played like a big team against a small team with very good players because all of them can defend. They can play how they want to. I am not criticising the way they play. Every team can play the way that thinks it is the best way to do it.
‘We have the same problem against Stoke and Chelsea and we couldn’t resolve it, we must work more to resolve it. It is our problem that we must find a way to score.’