This time it's AS Roma's Italian defender, Matteo Ferrari, and it's not goal.com but the only slightly more reputable Sky Sports.com:
Skysports.com understands Manchester City have entered the race to sign
Italian Matteo Ferrari....
[He's a free agent after seeing his contract out, apparently Milan and
Juventus are both also interested]
However, City are now ready to enter the chase for the former Parma star as
Mark Hughes looks to reshape his squad at Eastlands.
City are believed to be ready to send an entourage to Italy next week to
hold talks with Ferrari's representatives about a possible return to
England.
He's most famous in England for spending the 2005/06 season on loan at Everton. Having been bought by Roma from Parma in summer 2004, he played one full season for them before being sent to Goodison Park. Injuries hampered his time in England, and no permanent deal was done.
I asked some Everton fans on a forum what they thought of Ferrari, here are some of the responses:
"Classy on the ball, assured and talented. Supposedly a bit sulky behind the scenes. Good signing if you get him."
" liked ferrari put in the best tackle i've ever seen on i think it was aaron lennon. took the ball and sent him flying. i don't know what happened, it was said injuries, it was said moyes didn't like him. everytime i saw him he looked good though, i was disappointed to see him leave, thought he could have been a good player for us."
"He was technically immense but a bit of a liability.He was a lot younger then though so i reckon he could have matured out of his Slaven Bilic type attributes!I was not sad at all when he left. With hindsight though im gutted we didnt keep him for a bit longer and try to shape him ourselves!"
"Isnt he on a free as well? Would be great on a free"
"I'm happy we didn't get him. We proably wouldn't have gone for Lescott otherwise"
"in serie a he is always awful, i don't rate him at all... "
Make of these what you will.
For the past two seasons he's been back up for Chivu and Mexes, managing a respectable forty Serie A and eight Champions League starts in total. But Ferrari has chosen not to renew his deal and to seek first team football away from the Stadio Olimpico.
It's also worth pointing out that he has international experience. Between 2002 and 2004 he made 11 appearances for the Azzurri, but could not displace Nesta/Cannavaro. Could be a good signing if we don't have to pay a fee, especially given how we struggled in the last few months of last season with a lack of cover across the defence.
But as I've been writing this news of a bigger transfer has started emerging...
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