City’s Transfer Dealings So Far

Article by Jake Hartley

Only a few years ago, City fans had to pretend to look forward to seeing new foreign signings, Bernardo Corradi and Ousmane Dabo perform (or not) for the blues in the season ahead. We all know how well those two particular players turned out.

But under this new era, we can already look forward to the season with huge optimism as City have already made three impressive signings and if rumours are anything to go by, Mancini wants even more!

Mancini’s first signing of the season was the young, versatile German defender, Jerome Boateng from Hamburg. He has already shown his talent at this year’s world cup with some impressive displays against tricky opposition as Germany gained third place. Strong, good in the air and not lacking in pace either, Boateng has the qualities every top class defender needs to be successful in the Premiership. I’m not too sure whether Boateng will feature at right-back or centre-back for the blues, but I’m confident once he comes to grips with the English game that he will be a long term success for Manchester City.

The next foreign import who will be showcasing his superb talent at Eastland’s next season is recent world cup winner, David Silva from Valencia. Due to the dire financial state Valencia are currently in, they have been forced to sell their two biggest stars so far with David Villa joining Barcelona and of course Silva joining the blues. Silva didn’t get to prove his undoubted talent as much as Boateng did during the World Cup, but this is the type of signing I believed City would have to make this season to become more lethal in attack. Silva could be brilliant behind Adebayor and King Carlos as he could be the player to unlock any defence with clever through balls that would see Ade and Carlos score even more.

The third and hopefully not the last signing for City this summer has been the African powerhouse and brother of City captain, Kolo, Yaya Toure from Barcelona. Another sign of City’s ever rising reputation as they have been able to sign the impressive midfielder from Barcelona despite the manager pleading for Yaya to stay with the Spanish giants. Toure featured mainly as a defensive midfielder for Barca, but I think he will be used as a more box to box midfielder for the blues as he is brilliant at his defensive and attacking duties. There have been a few articles recently about the excessive wages Toure will be receiving whilst at the Blues. I will agree I believe no footballer should receive £200,000 a week for playing football, but thankfully I’m not the one paying Toure’s wages and should be thankful to Sheikh Mansour for providing the money needed to turn City into a global force, What do you think about the  wages footballers currently receive, is it too much?

Finally, with the amazing financial backing City receive from Sheikh Mansour it’s inevitable that there will be hundreds of rumours flying around the newspapers and internet that we will be signing every footballer who is half decent. But some of the more prominent rumours recently have been regarding Wolfsburg hit man, Edin Dzeko and Aston Villa’s, James Milner. Dzeko has stated that he wants to move to a bigger club and I personally would love for him to boost our attacking force and provide competition for Ade and Carlos, but for that to happen, we will have to beat Juventus to his services, who this week have publically stated their desire to sign him. Milner was excellent at the heart of Villa’s midfield last season and that has seen Villa put a price tag of £30 million on the young players head. I just can’t see where Milner would fit into our side and you may say we need a strong squad, but we have De Jong, Barry, Ireland, Vieira, Yaya Toure and the forgotten man, Michael Johnson who can all play in the middle. I believe City need to sign a striker, a left back and get rid of the deadwood in the squad to have a successful season. Who do you think City should buy and sell? Are you happy with the signings so far?

Jake Hartley