Tévez speaks of City move

In The People today:

"If I play for Manchester City I don't think the United fans will feel I am a traitor," he told The People.

"They have to remember that at least as far as I know I have been thrown out of the club and I have to study the best offers available.

"[Leaving] came about because I could not stand my sporting situation at Manchester United any longer.

I'd rather we signed Tévez sooner rather than later, but any lingering fear that we may fail to sign him is certainly calmed by reading this. I'm sure we'll get him, and sure that we will do so in this coming week. It would be nice if he could join up with the German training camp to get ready for our assault on the Vodacom Challenge.

Departures, ctd.

Despite what I just wrote about the departures of Hamann, Ball, Mills and Vassell, it is not his exit that is the most newsworthy this week - but that of Danny Sturridge to Chelsea.

This is more upsetting than it is surprising. The chaos in which MCFC was convulsed for most of 2008 up until the ADUG takeover meant that Sturridge was not offered the new contract he otherwise would have been, and when serious negotiations did start under Mark Hughes it was Sturridge and his representatives who were in a position of strength. And this position was used to present a series of ludicrous wage demands, which, coupled perhaps with a frustration to become a regular in the first team, pushed Sturridge towards his eventual separation from City.

It's obviously a huge disappointment. Sturridge is arguably the most talented youngster to come out of the Academy since Shaun Wright-Phillips (I think that Michael Johnson is the most gifted of them, ahead of even Stephen Ireland, not that it matters.) We've only seen glimpses of Sturridge's talent, but it's certainly there, and so the realisation that we will never see his flowering in a City shirt is difficult to take.

The strange thing about Sturridge's departure is just how anomalous it is. The last ten months have been the most positive and optimistic time to be a City fan in my lifetime. We've played rubbish for most of it (though that's nothing new), but the mood of the club is one of an inexorable journey to success. This bad news, then, runs counter to the good news that has been coming out of City since last September; an unlikely dark cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky.

But that is why we should be able to move on quickly from this. Imagine just how traumatic this would have been under Wardle's ownership, or even under Thaksin's. And then remember that we're now owned by neither, but by the richest men to ever invest in football. And think of how much better Santa Cruz and Tévez are going to be than any frontline that includes Danny Sturridge.

Departures

The most interesting thing to happen while I was away was not news of possible megadeals for Samuel Eto'o and John Terry but the departures of five senior players from the club: Danny Mills, Michael Ball, Dietmar Hamann, Darius Vassell, and of course Danny Sturridge.

As I've written before, one of Mark Hughes' central tasks as City manager has been to do what Sven-Göran Eriksson could never quite achieve: the overturning and purging of all aspects and remnants of the John Wardle/Stuart Pearce era at MCFC. Hughes has often spoken of the need to replace a losing mentality with a winning one, has introduced significant improvements to the medical and training facilities, has brought in experience and leadership in Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Shay Given, Craig Bellamy, Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry.

And the departures of Mills, Ball, Hamann and Vassell mark a key, almost a final, point in this process. Ball, Hamann and Vassell were all bought by Stuart Pearce - Mills was actually bought by Kevin Keegan but remained a regular under his successor - and they came to encapsulate some of the worst aspects of the aspects of the Pearce era: the sense that experience was seen as a good in itself, the 'one final payday' attitude which started with Keegan's McManaman and Fowler experiment, the lack of pace, the stifling mediocrity of it all.

The detail that Ball, Hamann and Vassell made a total of 81 starts in 2007/08 betrays the fundamental fact that Eriksson's changes at City were fundamentally cosmetic. Even last year under Hughes the three played some part in the opening months. Appropriately, they all made their last ever City appearances in the traumatic and cathartic FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest in January 2009. That game, before the signings of de Jong, Bellamy and Given - and before the debut of Wayne Bridge - represented the final outing of, and final judgement against, Stuart Pearce's Manchester City. In cutting the cord with Hamann, Ball, Vassell - and Danny Mills, who last played in August 2006 - Mark Hughes has made a crucial break from our recent past, and a clear statement of future direction.

Off again

I'm going to France this evening, and won't be back till Monday.

I hope that we sign Carlos Tévez while I'm away - I imagine that this will happen in all honesty. The Samuel Eto'o story will presumably rumble on, and then there's Joleon Lescott and Kolo Touré as well to keep us occupied.

And, of course, the new website which I am more excited about than any man really ought to be. Part of me hopes I won't get internet where I'm going so that I don't ruin my holiday trying to access the exclusive Stephen Ireland interviews, or wondering which squad numbers I think Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry will have.

Eto'o offered new Barça deal

That's the news coming out of the Spanish papers this morning.

After hearing of Eto'o's apparent refusal to join City, Joan Laporta has offered him a two year extension to his current deal - thus taking him up to 2012.

There's no real indication of whether Eto'o will accept this or not - if the offer is an extension rather than a pay rise I imagine that he might not - but I'm sure it will be clarified at this morning's press conference.

Eto'o's agent says no?

Samuel Eto'o's agent has said today in a radio interview that he is unlikely to join City:

Eto'o's agent, Josep Maria Mesalles, told ONA FM, "If there is not a 180-degree turnaround then he will stay with Barcelona."

Presuming that Messales' press conference scheduled for Tuesday will still go ahead, we should get a better sense of where exactly Eto'o's intentions lie.

Eto'o press conference tomorrow

Another story from El Mundo Deportivo - that Samuel Eto'o's agent, Josep Maria Mesalles, will hold a press conference tomorrow in Spain - in the luxurious AC Diplomatic hotel in Barcelona - to clarify Eto'o's future intentions. (In English, in Spanish.)

What exactly Eto'o's intentions are: whether he will come to City, sign a new contract at Barcelona, or run down the last year of his existing deal - well, no-one really knows. But maybe we'll get a better handle on this on Tuesday.

City move for Sergio Sánchez

News coming out of Spain today is that City have made a move for Espanyol's 23 year old right-back Sergio Sánchez.

It's from a story in this morning's El Mundo Deportivo - a paper which, as one based in Barcelona would expect, tends to be first with RCD Espanyol stories. The article claims that MCFC made contact over the weekend and formal negotiations are to start soon. City are willing to offer at least €4m - the offer that Sevilla have already made for Sánchez. Valencia have had a €3m bid rejected, and Sánchez has a buy out clause of €6m. (Article in Spanish here and Google's English translation here.)

Apparently Sánchez will decide on his future this week.

I'd be quite surprised if this comes off. I know that buying Espanyol's right-back worked very well last summer, but that's not to say that we should try to buy Espanyol's right-back the next summer as well. We already have a pretty good choice between Zabaleta and Micah Richards at right back (I don't think it's a choice that requires much thought.) I'd be surprised if either of those two moved on this summer. If Sánchez could play left-back though, he'd be much more useful - I'd be surprised if either Ball or Garrido are around for 2009/10.

Elano fires Brazil to glory

In a way.

He didn't start the final - Dunga continued to prefer Ramires, whom Elano replaced with Brazil 2-1 down and 23 minutes remaining. But with the scores level and six minutes remaining Ela floated in the corner which was headed home by Lucio - winning the 2009 Confederations Cup for Brazil. (Highlights HERE.)

It was the first piece of major international silverware won by City player since Lucien Mettomo picked up the 2002 African Cup of Nations.

Eto'o progress

The big news over the weekend is that an official bid has been made for Samuel Eto'o - of either £25m or £25.5m, depending on whom you believe. And comments of FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta suggest that the bid has been accepted, and that the transfer is subject only now to the agreement of the player:

"Eto'o has a stratospheric offer from City, which would convert him into the best-paid player in the world," Barcelona's president, Joan Laporta, said. "It's starting to become clear that he has this monster offer. He wants to stay but an offer like this is very difficult to refuse. If Eto'o accepts this stratospheric offer, we will have to bring in someone. If Eto'o accepts Manchester City's mammoth offer, we will need another striker."

Presuming that this is true, we're back into the Kaká question: can exorbitant wage offers and boundless ambition persuade a world-class player to leave one of Europe's elite clubs and come to City? Obviously with Kaká we were unsuccessful, but it ought to be kept in mind that aspects of Kaká's personal interests - religion, charity and so forth - made him particularly unlikely to accept a deal. Samuel Eto'o, however, may have fewer concerns with taking our money.

Should Eto'o take the money and join us, it would be yet another transformative moment in the ADUG revolution. He would be the first City player for forty years at least with a legitimate claim to be the best in the world in his position. His scoring record over the past few years is one of the best in Europe and last season he was the spearhead, although not really the inspiration, for the most successful Barcelona teams in history. The fascinating thing, if we do get Eto'o, will be how Hughes fits him together with Santa Cruz and Carlos Tévez. The only way I can think of is 4-3-3 - without Robinho.