NYCFC really lacks talented players yet the mothership continues to ignore this by keeping him rotting on the bench for a club that is out of contention for prettty much everything.
Man City are not out of contention. They are 6 points behind Chelsea, who have a game in hand. But Chelsea still have to play Man United, Arsenal (away), and Liverpool. Chelsea could drop points in, or even lose, any of those games. Meanwhile, the only tough games that Man City face are the Manchester derby (away) and away to Spurs. So City are not out of the title race yet.
Furthermore, they are only one point ahead of third-place Arsenal and two ahead of fourth-place Man United. Third place gets a team an automatic berth in the Champions League group stage, while a fourth-place finisher must go to a playoff round. So every point still matters to Man City.
That said, part of me hopes that they do agree to let Lampard go early. His lack of playing time might mean that he could be in the NYCFC lineup rather soon after he'd leave Man City.
On the other hand, he's been in daily training all of the Premier League season; so, if he came in the next few weeks and began playing here, chances are that he'd start to fatigue when we'd need him most, during the meaningful part of the season.
In the end, perhaps we're best off to leave it as his joining the team in August after a break, so he can be at his strongest when it counts most.