Michael Owen: Frank Lampard a "great asset" for Manchester City

Michael Owen has backed his former England teammate Frank Lampard to make a positive impact during his six-month loan stint with Manchester City.

The 36-year-old, who was released by Chelsea at the end of last season, recently agreed a two-year deal with New York City, who are co-owned by Man City and baseball giants New York Yankees.

With his connection to Chelsea in mind, it was expected that Lampard would move to a foreign club on a loan basis before his new employers entered the MLS in 2015.

However, City confirmed at the weekend that the midfielder will play for them until January and, talking to Sports Mole, Owen, who is now a BT Sport pundit, believes that Lampard could prove to be a shrewd acquisition by the champions.

"I was surprised when I first heard, but with the deal between City and New York, it makes sense. One thing is for sure, it would be difficult for Frank Lampard to not play for so long. When you piece it together, you can see why it has happened," said the 34-year-old.

"Who wouldn't want a Frank Lampard in their squad? People will criticise the deal because it is only short term, but we've seen that those deals can be highly beneficial over the years and be absolutely vital to a team's success. People want to plan for the future, which is understandable, but a lot of people want the here and now as well. He's a great asset to the City squad."

Owen was speaking after training with Chester City to launch BT Sport's exclusive live coverage of the Vanarama Conference which kicks off this weekend. BT Sport will show up to 30 exclusively live games from the Vanarama Conference this season including the Promotion Final at Wembley. BT Sport is free with BT broadband, to find out more visit www.btsport.com