Bellamy has three years left on his £80,000-a-week contract at City but Redknapp hopes to capitalise on what could be a summer of upheaval at their Champions League rivals and is closely monitoring Richards as a potential solution to his problems at right back.
Like Bellamy, the England Under-21 defender, who can also play at centre back, has three years left on his contract and City would not let him leave cheaply, but Redknapp is thought to be hopeful an agreement could be reached.
The Bellamy story has been heard before. I think it's plausible. It's known that Harry Redknapp is a fan of his, and that Bellamy is no fan of Roberto Mancini. Throw in the fact that Spurs might offer Champions League football next season and it all adds up. (It ought to be said, though, that if Spurs do offer Champions League football next season then Mancini is unlikely to be in charge at City and so one of Bellamy's push factors is absent.)
The Micah Richards one is new. Spurs bid £5million for him a few summers ago (2006?), but I don't think he has been linked with them since. A move away for him is not impossible, given that he has still not secured a regular place in the side and we are likely to spend big on a new right back this summer. While Pablo Zabaleta is a reliable utility man who is likely to stay and play by virtue of his proficiency in at least three positions, Micah Richards is not trusted half as much by Mancini, and nor was he by Mark Hughes.
So both of these are fairly plausible. We're all so focussed on the race for fourth place that no-one has quite realised that this might just be yet another summer of drama, controversy and exorbitant transfer spending. Managerial changes, £60million bids and brutal overhauls are all possible if not likely. Whatever happens in our next three games, one can safely predict that when the final whistle goes at the Boleyn Ground on May 9, the forces of chaos, destruction and creation, all armed with sacks of gold are going to be unleashed again upon the natural order of things, by Manchester City for another summer.
2 comments:
Richards, SWP and Ireland - all youth academy products, all on the brink of leaving. Is the whole point of our youth academy simply to cultivate players not to keep but to sell on to offset the costs of imports?
Of course I want success but not at any price. Even if we happen to be capable of paying it.
or of course this is just manipulation of media channels by 'arry in advance of a testing period between city and spurs.
We should start saying how Bale would be a great replacement for Bellamy.
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