It’s been an eventful week and I’ve barley had the
time to ‘put pen to paper’. Here’s an overview...
Signed
So Fernando has finally
completed his move. It seemed to run on for ever that one; especially
considering we were close / not-so close to bringing him to the Etihad in January.
That’s the defensive midfield area is well ‘n’ truly covered
now and I like what I’ve seen of him (okay, yeah,
on YouTube); he’s energetic and an excellent tackler.
I’ve said this before though; he does seem to
like to take the ball 2-footed at times and so, in the Premier League, he’ll have to watch that a little.
Fernando, Fernandinho, Javi Garcia and
James Milner in my humble opinion - as I
say, that position is WELL ‘n’ truly covered! Presumably Jack Rodwell will go
out on loan at the very least. W.B.A. appear to be
one interested party; possibly reuniting Jack with Joleon Lescott who returned to his native Midlands in a 2-year deal the other
week.
A quick word on Fernandinho. If you’ve not watched them yet
then there’s a series of very good videos on City’s
WEB site about our Brazilian midfielder. What a (still) very humble man from a humble background. Very refreshing
these days.
Almost signed
We’re about to increase our Argentinean contingent by one
this week with the signing of central midfielder Bruno Zuculini. We were first linked with the 21-year old in 2013 and have
followed through our interest with a £1.5M purchase; an agreement during our
long-term negotiations for a player who will be out of contract as he makes the
switch.
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| Bruno - Looking a bit like Jason Bourne here... |
I know this gets said a lot about players these days but I
read a lot in 2013 and in the last week about how Barcelona
At 21 you’d think he’d have a chance of making a
first-team-appearance at some stage this season – perhaps we’ll see him take some part in a League Cup home game for starters.
‘Sort of’ signed…
Right-back Chidiebere Nwakali
and right-sided / centre forward Kelechi Iheanacho have
signed pre-contract agreements with Manchester
City and will be travelling with us to
the USA
Still no closer
Our search for a central defender goes on and as Mangala’s
name gets mentioned more and more, Benatia’s
name is fading into the background. With the negative comments from the
Moroccan about his club, Roma, ‘no move’ in the
summer could prove awkward for the defender. Roma fans don’t appear, to me, to be a very forgiving lot…
Regarding Mangala; we have, apparently, ‘agreed a fee’. But
unlike Fernandos’ obvious enthusiasm to join us the French defender appears far
less-so. I’ve said it all before and I still
think we should look elsewhere if this guy is going to be trouble.
If we do end up
signing the Porto
player I’ll certainly be looking very closely into his eyes as he gives his
first few Club interviews…
Moving out
Marcos Lopes has moved to Lille
But I suppose moving to a Champions League team and playing full time in the French League is a step up from the NextGen Series.
Hope we get an improved player back for the 2015/2016 season.
Scott Sinclair has been
linked with a move back to Swansea City
Micah Richards appears to be
in limbo. Liverpool
appear to have ‘backed off’ and there’s been no further mention of a contract
extension at City. If a new Manchester
City
Wherever he ends up for the 2014/2015 season and beyond I
hope his injuries clear up and that he can fulfil his true potential. I can’t
believe he’s still only 26!
NOT going anywhere
‘Rubbished’ have the rumours been about Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo leaving in the summer – MCFC have given clear ‘hands off’ for
both players. And quite flippin’ rightly
so, too!
And I said those word BEFORE the latest - and quite worrying
- thigh injury to Sergio Aguero. It’s probably
just press scare-mongering of course - and is surely WAY too early to be saying
such things - but the latest, “reports”,
are that he’ll not only miss the remainder of the World Cup but also the start of the English season.
If he is out of the Brazil competition then we need
to try to do all we can to influence him-getting on his summer vacation as soon
as; get him BACK at City pronto and get some specialists working with him to
try to ‘crack’ whatever the underlying issue is with this troublesome and re-occurring
thigh problem.
Speaking of injury-prone, Vincent Kompany has also broken down in the World Cup. Although don’t yet know
(as I’m typing this) the severity of Vinny’s injury, it should come as no
surprise to hear that, yep…it’s his
groin again.
Although, with an additional centre-half signing, will we
have ‘the numbers’ required in that positions for a full campaign in 4
competitions?
Assuming ‘our skip’ will be out for 1/3 of the season as
is usual; will we have enough with just ONE addition to the centre of our
defence…with Matija Nastasic (injured for most
of last season), Karim Rekik (untried in the
Prem), Dedryck Boyata (looked vulnerable when
played at right back last
season) and the aging Martin Demichelis?
Yeah we’re told that Bacary Sagna CAN play (and has played) there if
required but, I wonder…
Nutter
And so, perhaps not too surprisingly, Luis Suarez is wrapped up in very familiar
controversy once again. Did he not
‘teeth’ as a baby or something; is he now getting all of his childhood ‘bite
frustrations’ out?
I think the 4-month ban – and an ‘any football ground’ ban –
is just about ‘spot on’ (well-done FIFA) and
I’m completely ‘blown away’ by Uruguay’s reaction to it; both the national team
officials and the footballing nation as a whole.
There’s blind loyalty for a
player…and then there’s just plain blind!
If they are serious – and
I take it they are – when they say that it’s the English-speaking press who
have blown it all out of proportion and that the incident wasn’t nearly as bad
as it’s being made out; then they are one, screwy lot!
For the 3rd, flippin’ time the guy has aggressively
and clearly-intentionally bit another person! How much more clearly ‘wrong’ do
you want it to be?!
Anyway, it’s great news for the Premier League title chasing
pack – cup games included, ‘Count Suarez’ will be missing for the first 13
games domestically.
The re-build has begun…
I’ll have to mention ‘them’ – sorry.
Manyoo have started to ‘splash the cash’ this week. For
around £60M they’ve purchased a 23-year old, Spanish midfielder with no first-team, international caps and for a whoppin’
£31.5M have purchased an 18-year old left-back
who’s had one good season in the Premier League with Southampton.
£140M (apparently) to go…
Hang on a minute! Weren’t WE ruining football by spending
lots and lots of cash and can I just ask, does FFP
not count in Stretford baring in mind also that they’ve lost MILLIONS by not being in any
European competitions and are a football club already riddled in debt?
Hello?
Huh…Mancheater Us***ed are back!
New season, new kits…
No, I’m sorry, I
don’t have an exclusive peep at City’s - no-doubt, soon-to-be - home, away, 3rd
and also, quite possibly, 'Champions League only' kits. I’d just thought I’d mention that they’ll be
released some time very soon I’m sure.
For now, I’ll just
include pictures of the ones ‘doing the rounds’ on the T’interWEB:
 |
| Quite nice... |
 |
| Horrible! Looks like a poor Arsenal 2nd/3rd-choice top. |
FURTHER expansion!
News broke this
week that in addition to the first of the 6,000-seat end expansion at
the Etihad Stadium, City are also planning to expand the stadium further by
adding an extra 3 rows to the ground, pitch-side level. I’m assuming here that
this will be to all four stands but whatever the detail, Manchester City are
stating that the additional 3 rows together with the introduction of a 3rd
tier to the South Stand will take the capacity of the Etihad to 55,000 in time
for the start of the 2015/2016 season.
Scotland
Already in place
for a pre-season match was a trip to Dens Park
But a new fixture
was added about 10 days ago, which is a trip to Edinburgh’s
now-second tier (Championship) side, Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). Kick off at the Tynecastle Stadium is 7:30pm BST on Friday 18th
July.
Next stop is then
the U.S. , where the rest of
the first team will join on various dates depending on how long certain players
stay in Brazil America
Speaking of Brazil
Not so sure Edin Dzeko coming home early was a good thing though - he
appeared to be carrying on his good, late-season form and when a player is IN
that kind of form; you want them to carry on and on. He’ll be kicking the sand in frustration now that’s for sure and I just
hope we don’t see ‘Mr Sulk’ appear again…
I hope Holland
‘Prepare’ & ‘Repair’
Brace yourself in
the coming weeks for some more Yaya stories. I
think we all know the reason, now, for his peculiar, on-the-pitch behaviour
towards the end of the season [snapping at decisions etc]. I wasn’t aware he
had such a sick brother and I am very sad for his loss at such an awfully young
age.
He’s a moody one is
our Ivorian ‘midfield monster’ but I suppose it’s somewhat justified in this
case. I just wish it hadn’t have all come out as ‘cake gate’ - clearly Yaya and
his protective but harebrained agent were
looking for ANY outlet to vent underlying issues and frustrations.
But the fact is, by
Yaya’s own admittance, he didn’t ask Manchester
City for time off after winning the
league to visiting his terminally ill brother in a Manchester Hospital Manchester
City should have offered [knowing his
situation and feelings] for him to remain by his bed-side instead of heading to
Abu Dhabi
It’s all a bit
unfortunate to say the least and I’m sure that when ALL parties look back they’ll
probably admit that they could have handled it very differently. Hopefully City
can repair the damage and that things don’t get silly again.
I hope so but if
Yaya and Dimitry Seluk have intentions to ‘make waves’ and ask for a move away
from City then I hope they show their hand sooner rather than later, so that we
can make a move for a replacement. That’s
a lot of goals and creativity to replace…
Sorry about the 'fonting' and general layout on this one folks - Blogger is playing silly buggers again...
Sorry about the 'fonting' and general layout on this one folks - Blogger is playing silly buggers again...
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