- The Independent has an article suggesting that Tal Ben Haim will sign in the next day or so. A good buy in a place we need back up, although £60,000/week seems rather absurd.
- The Sun says we're about to bid £6million for Pablo Zabaleta. We were heavily linked with him in late June, and he seems like a good purchase. I'd rather he was a right winger who can play right back rather than the opposite, for obvious reasons, but it's encouraging either way.
- Zabaleta is also mentioned in this Manchester Evening News article this morning. More interestingly, though, so is Valencia midfielder Ever Banega. He was bought amidst real hype from Boca Juniors in January, but I guess Valencia are desperate to sell at the moment. He's only five days younger than Micah Richards, but is frequently compared to Fernando Redondo. We don't really need him, but it would be quite a coup.
- Another Manchester Evening News article reports that Benjani has picked up an injury, thus leaving us with striking problems for the first few weeks of the season. The Olympics mean that Jo will miss the Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg, Aston Villa away and West Ham at home and maybe the second leg match. Presuming Benjani misses those games, we're left with the Italian wantaways, an unfit Bozhinov, an unfit for purpose Vassell and the kids: Caicedo, Sturridge and Evans. It's not ideal but that should be enough, particular with the option of dropping Elano or Ireland in behind a front man (a bit 2007/08, but remember Hughes used Bentley like that often last season). Obviously I'd love us to buy Podolski or Milito anyway, but the situation is not so desperate that money should be diverted away from more pressing priorities.
UPDATE: Pablo Zabaleta and Ever Banega
are both in Argentina's Beijing Olympics squad. This means that if we don't sign them in the next fortnight (Argentina open against Cote d'Ivoire on August 7th) then we'd have to do it in the last week of August. If we do sign them, though, we'd lose them for the same amount of time
as Jo: the first two league games, the UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round 1st leg and probably the 2nd leg.
2 comments:
Milito, Podolski, even cheeky bid for Villa up front
MORE imptntly need RW, DM and LB
RW - Quaresma, SWP or Bentley in that order
LB - Zhirkov or Pranjic
DM - Eva Bangera, Lucho Gonzales or Xabi Alonso
All available and non out of citys budget or reach.. maybe villa but hey we bid for ronnie n torres.. y nt villa valencia desperate to sell
IF any cash left one star... diego love him but mayb not need him.
Shaz, Manchester
I agree that a new striker ought to be behind the main priorities: DMC, AMR and DL/C (in Football Manager terminology), in that order.
For our holding midfielder, we need someone with more experience than Fernandes, more energy than Hamann, more bite than Ireland and more consistency than Johnson. There aren't many obvious options. Alonso is a good passer but rather diffident. Banega is too young.
On the right wing, I think Quaresma is probably out of our reach. SWP or Bentley would be very welcome. A sneaky bid for Joaquin?
In defence, I think Ben Haim could be the perfect signing. Zhirkov looked very good in the Euros (but I must admit to not having seen him play much for CSKA Moscow), but maybe we need someone with Premier League experience? I would have liked Bridge but we've missed that one now.
I'll expand on these thoughts later this week.
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