"Edin has a very strong will to come to England, he is a top class player who should play in England," Pjanic told Soccernet through an interpreter. "He is one of the best attackers. He has got a brilliant future and I think he will come to England.
"Manchester City are starting to build a very good team and he is interested in the challenge. At the end of the day it is going to happen. Edin does really want to go to Manchester City and Manchester is a great team."
Positive stuff. I had always been under the impression Džeko was keen on a move to Juventus or AC Milan, and that City were a fall-back option for him. So for one of his friends to claim that he has positive enthusiasm for a move to City, well, it's obviously good news.
The thrill, though, lies elsewhere for me. Look at Pjanić's words: 'Edin does really want to go to Manchester City and Manchester is a great team.' Using 'Manchester' as shorthand for Manchester City - I never thought I'd see the day. There was never anything more belittling and embarrassing over the years than seeing foreign footballers say 'Manchester' when they meant 'Manchester United.' Every time you heard it was a piercingly frank assessment of the clubs' relative statures.
When the foreign press started referring to us as 'el City' I swelled up with pride. Take that, Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry and Norwich! But this is something else. Of course, this is only one data point. The vast majority of lazy 'Manchester' references will still refer to our red friends. But this is the start of something.
11 comments:
It's funny but I always want other City teams to be relegated
God, that "Manchester" has grated on my nerves for sooo long now. Especially bleedin' Alan Green on Radio 5L. Made me grin to see it bein' used to describe us. :-)
Johnny, I'm actually very sympathetic to many of the other Citys:
Birmingham - blue, second club in big city
Coventry - sky blue
Leicester - blue, Paul Dickov connection
Bradford - Peter Beagrie connection
Bristol - David James connection
That'll do....
Here's the deal on City transfer activity over the next month. My brother in law is a senior partner at the firm that represents City.
Balotelli
Strong interest from City. Strong interest from Inter. Strong interest from Agent. Nothing from Mario. Nothing. Then YES. Then NO. This guy's head is not screwed on. Chances of it happening - zero.
Torres
Media hype. Will not happen this year.
Dzeko
Potentially something here. My brother in law is flying out to Germany tomorrow for some talks. Price could be a stalling point.
Milner
It's dead. Was very close to happening before the WC but since then Villa have been playing silly buggers and City have lost their patience. And...rightly so. Incidentally, Ireland was NEVER part of the deal; he's staying put.
Gourcuff
If you believe this, you'll believe anything. Not even a smidgen of truth to this one.
Buffon
Negotiations have been on-going for a long time between Club and Agent. An absolute cert next summer if we make the CL - otherwise it will definitely not happen.
You'll be glad to hear that Santa Cruz is definitely off - loan or sale, but will 100% go through this week. Looking likely that Jo will be off within the next 2 weeks latest - probably to Turkey.
Hart
My brother in law is not involved in this...and there's no deal at present....BUT - chit chat from within the City corridors suggests he's off and possibly at a price (and not a loan) if a deal with Buffon can be struck. Likeliood of a Buffon deal though...25%. Personally, I'd like to see Joe back on loan - but our back up is soooo poor, we need him around at the moment.
By the way - I'm a regular and TRUSTED poster on here. I've submitted this under an alias. I can't get my brother in law into bother!
In the last 2 seconds, Balotteli's mind has changed again.
Crap, forgot to mention 1 important point. Bellamy is off to Fulham - deal's practically done. I'm not happy about this one, personally - although at least he's not going to the Spuds.
I'm a big fan of Lancaster City, also Sky Blue, great place to watch football - right next to the main line train station, and a few decent pubs.
Whenever anyone says they "support United" I always assume they mean Leeds United. Seems to annoy them a bit. Petty? Moi? Yeah.
Oh, not Leeds? Rotherham? Hyde? Newcastle? West Ham? Adelaide? Nope... sorry, can't think of any more...
But we've achieved nothing apart from win the lottery, so I'm afraid this doesn't count in our attempt to shift the focus from Stretford.
Alex - You already dropped him in it. How many senior partners in law firms do you think act for City? Well it will probably be one less now.
Not sure how I would feel about us becoming 'City' in the same way that lazy media just say 'United' and expect everyone to know who they mean. Having been irked by that for the last 20 years and repeatedly picked people up on it (just like Monkey Face, above), I wonder if I'd feel a bit hypocritical if the same thing started happening with us.
Great stuff Alex. I don't have a relative travelling to Germany on behalf of a law firm that represents City but you can have my tuppenny predictions anyway.
Balotelli - will happen, eventually. If he's as motivated by money as it appears, City is his only option. He won't get £9m a year though.
Dzeko - will happen. Mancio wants a better striker than Adebayor, who is willing to leave. We'll pay.
Milner - will happen. O'Neill will crack and drop the price. He can do with the money and do without a disenchanted player.
A centre half will conclude the summer's shopping.
With insight like this, I could write for the MEN.
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