Friday 25 July 2008

City make late Chretien approach?

Reports in the French press suggest that City are set to approach A.S. Nancy-Lorraine for their 24 year old Moroccan international right back Michael Chretien.

Last weekend reports in both Marca and L'Equipe said that although Chretien was assumed to be on his way to Real Betis for €4million, City maintained an interest and could make a move. The player himself recognised that City were interested but insisted that Betis was still his favoured destination.

Yesterday evening, an article emerged on L'Equipe's website quoting Chretien's agent, Jacques Crouzel, as saying that the move to Betis was to be delayed because of City's interest. City had 'returned to the deal' on Thursday and Nancy now 'awaited their offer'. The article does speculate, however, that 'maybe this is a means of putting pressure on the Spanish club, which is still Chretien's favoured destination'.

Carouzel is then quoted as saying that although Chretien's contract with Betis is more or less done, there remain some negotiations left over the fee: Betis have offered €4m (£3.1m), Nancy want €5m (£3.9m). Although he suggests that the deal could be done within the next 48 hours. Carouzel revealed that Chretien had turned down offers from Panathanaikos and Dinamo Kiev; also saying that despite City's approach, La Liga 'has always been a league that makes him [Chretien] dream'.

Whilst looking for stuff on this story, I came across this article in Marca. I can't really understand, but it seems to be about a complication between Chretien and Betis over the role of a Croatian agent, who allegedly told Chretien that Betis were offering more than they actually were. The article does not mention City, but I guess anything that holds up his move to Betis is good news for us. Any Spanish readers able to translate it?

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