With limited access to the Internet I’ve kept on checking, as best I can, for ‘City updates’. Each ‘n’ every time I did I wondered why I’d bothered.
“Oh it’s all gone quiet over here…”
Incomings
We’ve still not signed Fernando from Porto. First of all it was supposed to have been completed at the back-end of last week and now the back end of this. But as we rapidly approach the weekend on World Cup ‘Day 1’, latest reports suggest that Porto haven’t even given the defensive midfielder permission to leave – that’s despite us agreeing a fee! Together with and following the January negotiations, the Portuguese outfit really are a strange bunch to deal with. £12.2M was the latest fee I’d heard…with ‘add ons’ depending on future success.
Sagna still
hasn’t signed either but, apparently, that’s just a technicality; his contract
doesn’t actually finish with Arsenal
until a certain, undisclosed date in June.
Then we have the two ‘wouldn’t touch with a bargepole’
central defenders. Not for their undoubted abilities on the field but for their
apparent attitudes off it.
Benatia sounds
like trouble. ‘Modern-day footballer’ an’ all that taken into account; it still
disgusts me how much he appeared to first push for a wage increase / improved
contract and then a ‘move away’ from Roma
just 1 year into a 5-year deal.
Praise was heaped on the 27-year old Moroccan last season in
Serie A and I can’t help feeling as
though it’s all gone to his head. His price tag also appears to be creeping up
by the day too. Steer clear would be my advice.
Then there’s the gobby Eliaquim
Mangala. The French international, Porto central defender seems to be doing
all he can NOT to join his inbound colleague at the Etihad Stadium. First it was that he prefers London to Manchester
and now he prefers Manyoo to City. Huh…perhaps he’s heard the thing about where
most Manyoo fans ‘hail from’ and is getting all confused…
Of course these comments might not be from the player
himself (although the London thing did
have quotation marks on them in every publication that I read); perhaps it’s
some other interested-party / agitator. Either way, our ‘early business’ for a
partner for Vinny doesn’t seems to
be getting anywhere with this troublesome pair and so I think we need to be moving
on and looking elsewhere soon.
I’m not going to do a long piece just yet about possible
alternatives but I will do when I get back in front of a ‘normal’ PC. However,
I will make brief comment on the recent link, once again, with Pepe of Real Madrid.
We’ve been linked with him in the last 4 transfer windows
and so, with complications continuing with the afore mentioned two;
unsurprisingly this one has reared its head once again. Reports suggest that
Pepe is going to struggle to dislodge Real’s main central defensive duo and an
eventual move would seem quite likely; if not in the summer then perhaps some
time in 2015.
When first linked with him 24 or so months ago, for me he
also fell into the ‘no thank you very much’ category. This time, however, it
WAS for issues on the pitch. Putting it bluntly he was a nutter – and a very
nasty one too. He wouldn’t have lasted long in the Premier League in my opinion; he’d have been wound-up by the
opposition far too easily and would (probably) have snapped so many times; he’d
have spent 1/3 of his time with us sat in the Colin Bell Stand serving ban after extended ban.
I’ve been speaking with a couple of Real fans in recent
weeks and made a point of asking one of them about Pepe. Like Angel Di Maria they are adamant that
the Portuguese defender is going nowhere; clearly they hold both players in very
high regard and don’t want to see either of them leave their beloved ‘Whites’.
But of Pepe, he assured me that he has calmed down considerably in the last 2
years – perhaps turning 30 did something
to him [in a positive way]…
But AT 31 are we interested in him anymore? I’m not
suggesting for one moment that 31 is ‘past it’; a quality player [at that age] has
3 years left in him at least in my opinion. But aren’t we looking for a
longer-term partner for our Captain? The answer is “Yes” and so I think we can finally put all talk of
Pepe to bed now.
However, we need to bring in a quality central defender and
we need to move before all the good’ns get ‘snapped up’. Demichelis grew in stature and his quality shone through as he
gained more and more Premier League game-time last season. And in Nastasic, I’m still very hopeful that
he’ll have a long and very fruitful time at Manchester City.
But you’d have to be blind not to see this as an area that
needs some serious quality injection and I’ll make some efforts soon to look at
some viable alternatives to the Porto & Roma weirdos.
The Di Maria link doesn’t seem to be going away either.
Although most City fans would, quite rightly, point out that an additional,
left-sided, creative player should NOT be high on our priority list, regular
readers will know that, once we HAVE bolstered the defence and ‘beefed up’ the
midfield; an additional, attacking / creative option would help to take us to
‘the next level’.
Arsenal are another team constantly bring linked with the Argentinean
winger and I think it’s only a matter of time before we see his skills in the
Premier League. I like him…and if Pellegrini
wants him perhaps Zaba and Aguero can convince their international
colleague…
Outgoing
Yaya’s going nowhere! That’s according to his dad,
apparently.
‘A good clip round the
ear is what he’ll get if he starts that sort of shenanigans ever again’.
Okay, his dad didn’t say that exactly. But pointing out that,
“...he’s a boy” and, therefore, likes
to ‘sound off’ whenever he’s disgruntled about something; his father was
suggesting that ‘cake gate’ was something ‘n’ nothing.
Could I suggest that
his dad gives Yaya’s agent a ‘thick ear’ though..?
Richards could be
on the move and West Ham United
could be one, possible destination. There has been some suggestion in recent
days that we have offered him a new contract; those same sources have akso intimated
that he has turned down our offer. If so I can fully understand it – with Sagna
SUPPOSEDLY joining us we’d have 2 crackin’ right-backs at the club…and I don’t
think our manager sees Micah as a suitable, centre-half alternative.
To be honest, with his
injury record I’d be surprised if we HAVE offered him a new deal – it would
only-surely be for ‘home-grown’, squad reasons…and that wouldn’t seem fair on
him nor any EDS players waiting to
‘step up’...
Nothing’s been said but I’d be surprised if Jack Rodwell was still with us come
‘kick off’; certainly when (if) Fernando makes the move from Porto. And that,
of course, is with the ‘home grown’ rule in mind. Similar – but even worse than – the Micah issues;
he’s just too darn injury prone!
Similarly, I’d have to say, Javi Garcia. For all his…improvement
last season; surely there’s hardly a place for him in next season’s squad. With
us looking to get another central defender – and along with Vinny, Demichelis, Nastasic and new-contract-boys Dedryk Boyata & Karim Rekik – I can’t see him
getting many games there. And with ‘the two ferds’ vying for that central
defensive slot what are his chances there? Again,
there are no rumours of him moving out though.
Emyr Huws seems
to be getting a lot of attention and it looks highly likely that he’ll get his
first crack at a season in the Premier League on loan for a season. Along with
newly promoted Burnley and Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Swansea
City also seem keen on the young, Welsh midfielder; who “enjoyed” a
successful time at struggling - and
last-minute-survivors - Birmingham
City in the Championship.
Not going
I’m taking all talk of Stevan
Jovetic leaving in the summer as utter balderdash! A player of his obvious
quality is ALWAYS going to be linked with a move away whenever he doesn’t get
too many games [for whatever reason].
Contrastingly, I see the Montenegrin playing a very
important part in next season’s endeavours. Furthermore, if he gets an
injury-free, full pre-season behind him; I can see Jovetic being used in a Nasri-type role down the left or even a
Silva, ‘behind the striker’ position
with far more frequency than last season. No
need, therefore, for a Di Maria-type purchase…
Similarly, Negredo
- I know he lost form terribly after his shoulder injury in the League Cup, 2nd leg at Upton Park…and with Edin Dzeko then ‘stepping up to the
plate’ as he mostly did; ‘The Beast’
went from hero to spectator in the latter months.
But with the shadow of ‘financial (not-so) fair play’ ever
present these days; why on earth would we want to sell an
already-Premier-League-proven-striker when all we’d (surely) have to do then is find a replacement? Nope, any rumours
about the Spaniard leaving I’m also confining to the rubbish bin…unless we do first stick a concrete
bid in for another forward in the coming weeks.
Alek Kolarov and Joe Hart, two players rumoured to be
moving on in the summer, would appear to be going nowhere either. I didn’t
believe for a second that ‘our Joe’ would be moving out and it would appear
both of these players will be getting new, extended contracts along with Samir
Nasri and one or two others (Yaya’s
underlying ‘beef’ apparently…)
I’m very pleased for Joe and for Samir but, I have to say,
not so pleased that it looks like we’re not in the market for a quality
left-back to compete with Gael Clichy.
Although I had given up hope of us signing Sevilla’s
Spanish left-back, Alberto Moreno – a player whom we had first refusal on by all
accounts – I’m still keeping close tabs on the situation.
Although with us not activating the ‘first refusal
agreement’ with the Spanish side it suggests that we’re not interested in him,
Sevilla do appear to be now playing silly buggers with Liverpool about the way
they want to receive the payments from the Merseysiders.
It’s gone flat in the last few days and I just wonder
whether we’ve quietly intervened there and have muddied the waters a little…
Not-so new news…
As much as I’m loving my very relaxing holiday away, I do
feel a little Manchester City starved of news. Having said that I’m getting
enough Internet, radio, television and newspaper coverage to be kept as ‘in the
loop’ as everyone else…
But when I saw the a headline about UEFA reducing sanctions against us in next season’s Champions League it looked like there
had been some PROPER Blues News to read about! Sadly, no; it was just
confirmation of what we expected from European football’s governing body. Only
having to feature 5 home-grown players instead of 8 following the
sanction-reduction from 24 to 21 squad players is NOT new news…but was being
pitched by many as though it was.
What WAS new came from the club itself, which confirmed that
all available season cards had been snapped up for next season. You can now
only put your name down on a waiting list for season cards and, come 21st
July, apply to be a CityZens member,
which allows you to purchase individual tickets and get other club benefits.
World Cup
So it starts tonight – the hosts Brazil vs Croatia. I’m
sort of getting excited now; it’s taken me a while though. 9:00pm kick-off time [in the UK] and I'd like to watch it today.
And I am looking
forward to the England / Italy game of course…but am still trying to work out
how to ‘play it’.
We return from holiday early Saturday afternoon and so I'm thinking...
1. Try to stay awake throughout the day and don't touch the beer until about 10:00pm.
2. Or, more likely, fall (or force myself to go) asleep about 7:30pm and set the alarm for 10:00pm - shower, England flag out, crack the beer open and completely write-off Sunday; having gone to bed at 3:00am.
NO HYPERLINKS ON THIS ONE DUE TO LIMITED COMPUTER CAPABILITY WHILE
I’M AWAY…
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