Keeping Evergreen Frank Lampard Is Key to Manchester City Success This Season

There’s often no set formula as to when a player is going to produce his best football. Some will develop quickly but fade rather swiftly, while others are slow burners, whose improvement may seem gradual at first but who play on at a high level for years.

While Wayne Rooney burst on to the scene at an absurdly young age and was England’s most feared player at the European Championships in 2004 when he was just 18, others, such as Ian Wright and Didier Drogba, found their best football much later in life.

And players degrade at different times, too. Steven Gerrard, at 34, looks to be struggling for both form and peak fitness at the moment, with some suggesting retirement must surely be around the corner, whereas Frank Lampard, Manchester City’s 36-year-old loanee from New York City FC, continues to do what he’s always done.

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Lampard’s form this season has taken many by surprise. It was generally felt his loan move to City was purely a marriage of convenience: providing the player with some high-intensity training and maybe some first-team matches in lesser competitions, while the club would have a seasoned professional on hand in case of emergencies.

It suited both parties without ever being a significant or season-changing transfer.

However, Lampard has smashed that idea to bits with a series of intelligent, influential displays, both from the bench and from the start. He’s been an absolute revelation, and the idea of City losing him when he goes back to NYCFC in January seems increasingly unlikely with each passing game.

His goal against Southampton on Sunday—which wrapped up the points for City who had not long gone down to 10 men—was the latest example of his influence. He possesses vision, experience, technical quality and a footballing brain that keeps him a step ahead of the younger players he’s playing against.

And the City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, is likely to be doing everything he can to get Lampard to stay longer. The MLS season begins in March, and NYCFC are keen to use Lampard’s profile to sell season tickets and create excitement ahead of their season, but, clearly, City’s needs are more pressing.

Pellegrini is surely lobbying Txiki Begiristain, the club’s director of football, on a daily basis, pressing home the need for the deal to be extended.

Asked at a media conference ahead of his side’s trip to Sunderland whether Lampard will stay, Pellegrini was predictably cautious, suggesting City will spend December trying to move along the chances of him staying. “I said December [is when we would know more], but not the first or the second,” Pellegrini said. “We have the whole month of December to decide.”

And asked if he was surprised at Lampard’s form, the City boss said categorically he wasn’t: “No. because I think it is different to think Lampard could do it better than he played.

“It is very difficult to do it better than Frank Lampard. He has done the same way in the last 12 years here in England.

“When he came here I expected that he would be the same player he has been his whole career because he is a top player. For his age, he cannot play three games in a week for 90 minutes, but his quality is the same as two or three years ago.”

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Lampard’s leadership and professionalism has been clear for all to see, as has his goalscoring prowess and his ability to dictate the tempo of a game from midfield with his passing. His performance in the recent 3-2 win against Bayern Munich, where he was arguably City's best midfield player, demonstrated his class. 

City can’t afford to lose him, particularly with Yaya Toure set to go on AFCON duty with the Ivory Coast in January and February.

They must do all they can to retain the former Chelsea man for as long as possible.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.