Edin Džeko's Christmas letter

I know the letter was written earlier in the season. I know that Džeko, a Bosnian Muslim, doesn't celebrate Christmas. But there's still something charmingly festive about Edin Džeko writing to City asking for us to buy him, as reported in today's Mail and Guardian.

It could not have been too different from the letter some of us wrote to Father Christmas in Decembers past. Dear Garry Cook, it might have started, This year I've been a very good boy, I've scored 56 in 81 in the Bundesliga in the last two and a half years (73 in 102 in all competitions!), and what I really want for Christmas this year is a transfer to your club, because, well, I've always been a big fan and when I was growing up in Sarajevo I used to watch the 'FA Carling Premiership' on television and I saw Niall Quinn flicking it on to Paul Walsh and thought - that is the sort of centre forward I wanted to become. So, Garry Cook, please fulfil my Christmas wish and bring me to City.

Or something like that. We've certainly been interested in Džeko before, and we went in for him in the summer. Nothing came of it, and I presumed that was because he'd rather a move to Italy or Spain. But if he is as interested in City as this suggests, well, that's a big deal. It's a particularly pleasing piece of news because, as you might have noticed, the future of Carlos Tévez as a Manchester City player is not too secure at the moment. We're certainly going to be looking to pick someone up in the transfer window, we've made advances in this direction before, and now it looks as if things might be a touch more mutual than we first imagined. Forgive me if I buy myself a DZEKO replica shirt for Christmas.