MANCHESTER -- Manchester City are open to the possibility of extending Frank Lampard's loan deal, but no agreement has been struck with New York City FC yet. - Curtis: What have we learned about City?
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- Ageuro, Silva, Nasri to miss Wednesday tie Lampard, 36, joined the Premier League champions until January from NYC FC, however, their inaugural Major League Soccer campaign does not begin until March. That could allow City to keep hold of Chelsea's record goalscorer for longer, although -- despite reports to the contrary - sources have told ESPN FC nothing has been finalised. City manager Manuel Pellegrini told a news conference: "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." City are set to lose one central midfielder in January when Yaya Toure is likely to be part of Ivory Coast's squad for the African Nations Cup, which ends on Feb. 8. Lampard scored his first City goal in Sunday's 1-1 draw against his former club Chelsea and is set to be involved when they host Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup. Pellegrini also denied that City are planning to sign Ross Barkley after reports emerged that they were quoted a 50 million-pound asking price by Everton in the summer, and that the England international is the club's top target in 2015. "We are not trying to bring anyone to our squad at this moment," he said. "We have an important restriction on money and the amount of players we can have in our squad. I don't know where the news comes [from] but here in Manchester City it is not a problem in this moment." Pellegrini went on to insist that he was not criticising Chelsea when he called them "a small team" due to their defensive approach on Sunday. The Chilean compared Jose Mourinho's side to Stoke City -- who won 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium last month -- but said it is up to his team to break down opponents who keep a number of players behind the ball. "They can play how they want to. I am not criticising the way they play," he said. "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 and we must find a way to score."
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