Spirit and loyalty

Two players who left City over the summer have criticised the spirit within the club this week. First Martin Petrov:

"I went to see Mancini in January to ask about my future because my contract was up in June. He said it wasn't the right time and 'let's talk in two weeks' but after that there was nothing. Nobody spoke to me about my future again. Nobody looked me in the eyes and said: 'Martin, thank you for your time, you are a very professional player.'

"It surprised me. I am not an 18-year-old, I am a 31-year-old who has played in different countries and for my national team, so I think that I have a reasonably good name and deserved to hear something."

And then Benjani:

"It sounds great, but in football money is not everything. What is needed is people who can hang around and love you to be there.

"Sometimes you are loved to be there because of money, which is not good. I would prefer to be here without having all those facilities, be happy and trust everyone around you."

Asked if he thought some players at City were interested in money more than anything else, Benjani said: "Yes, it seemed like that and behind the scenes, there is no trust. I would prefer to play for a club where you are being trusted and you trust everyone around you."

This can't be too much of a surprise.

Benji, Sylvinho, Petrov depart

The regeneration of a football club in a summer transfer window has two elements: the introduction of new players and the shedding of old, spent ones. It is almost like a tree shedding its leaves and then, the far side of winter, growing new green ones, except that in football the two processes occur simultaneously.

We've had the creation: Jérôme Boateng is to become a blue on 1 July. Today we had the first news of the other, destructive side, as three spent leaves fell off the Manchester City tree. Benjani, Martin Petrov and Sylvinho are all to leave on free transfers. This is a natural event. All three are 31 or above. The first two were signed by Sven-Göran Eriksson, and Sylvinho by Mark Hughes. None is sufficiently close to the first team even before our summer spending. They will have to look elsewhere to play.

Benjani's departure was inevitable from the moment he was allowed to go on loan to Sunderland in January. I said my good-byes to him then, and rather than find different words for the same thoughts I simply offer that post as my farewell.

Martin Petrov leaving is equally unsurprising, if rather sadder. Once we signed Adam Johnson to replace Robinho it was clear that Petrov would not be playing as much football as someone his age would want. He had a brief spell in the side in Roberto Mancini's early days, but he was never first choice. If we are honest, he never replicated the form he showed in Eriksson's season, when he was just thrilling up and down that left wing. He played with a confidence and selfishness we hadn't seen since Shaun Wright-Phillips went to Chelsea two years before.

He was so good for that season that he managed to barge his way onto the bench of my MCFC Team of the Decade. From then on, under Hughes and Mancini, it was one long knee injury punctuated by occasional spells in the team, when, to his credit, he tore into right-backs with as much ferocity as he did in his prime. He certainly brought us some good moments, and I'll run through a top five later in the week. He is a very plausible target for Premier League clubs, at least on a pay-as-you-play deal, and so I am sure he will not drift off our football horizons.

Perhaps Sylvinho is the most surprising departure. Signed by Mark Hughes on a free last summer, he came in as experienced cover at left back. Chances were limited, and after he was brutalised by Aaron Lennon at White Hart Lane in December it was clear he was never going to be a Premier League left back. But he had a few good games in midfield, where his touch and brain were as sharp as ever, and he scored our goal of the season at Scunthorpe in the FA Cup. I had hoped for his retention as a squad player and coaching hand. But he goes with farewells as warm as anyone else.

Each of this three, in their own way, endeared themselves to me and to the fans. I do not think our squad will be any weaker for their departure, particularly given the spending we are about to do, but yet I will miss them all. Good luck blues.

Benjani MCFC 2008-2010 24 starts, 7 goals

Martin Petrov MCFC 2007-2010 57 starts, 12 goals

Sylvinho MCFC 2009-2010 9 starts, 1 goal

Benjani goes

Benjani Mwaruwari has left City in much the same way as he arrived: in a hasty move at the end of the January window, mired in confusion and administrative incompetence, eventually allowed to pass by Premier League officials with a nod and a wink, as a team whose season promised so much in the autumn desperately tries to improve its goal threat to rescue its rapidly deteriorating season.

So it was in January 2008 with us, and so it is with Sunderland now. Benjani is only at the Stadium of Light on loan, but as his contract expires in the summer we can safely say that he has pulled on the sky blue jersey for the last time.

His stay at City has been mixed. He was unfortunate, perhaps, that his finest moment in blue - in fact, one of the most momentous goals in recent MCFC history, came in just his second game. It was the February 2008 Old Trafford derby, the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. City were 1-0 up just before half time, and Martin Petrov swung the ball in from wide. Benjani jumped to head it, and though he failed in that attempt, the ball struck his shoulder and carried past Edwin van der Sar into the net. Not exactly Tueart's overhead kick, but meaningful all the same.

We won the game 2-1, and it is a shame that Benjani could not use the goal as a springboard to greater things. Unfortunately for him his leaden feet and his failure to understand the offside rule meant that he could never quite become the striker we wanted him to be. Or maybe he was overwhelmed by that goal off his shoulder and knew he could never repeat it. He went on to score five more goals in his remaining 22 games in 2008, before only managing three appearances in all of 2009. There was a brief return under Roberto Mancini in 2010, as he played five games and scored our only goal in the Cup game at the Riverside. In so doing he absolved himself - and Martin Petrov who set him up - of the shame of the 8-1 loss there in May 2008, in which he played thirteen minutes before being replaced by Nery 'el Diablo' Castillo.

Good luck at Sunderland Benji.

Benji in Sunderland talks

The Benjani Renaissance was never going to last.

He is in talks with the strangely worsening Sunderland.

Mancini confirms:

"I spoke with him five days ago and he said to me that if there was the possibility to go and play he would like it," said the Italian.

"I said to wait, but if he wants to go and play that's OK. For a player, it's important to play. We have a lot of strikers and he will decide if he wants to stay here.

"I'm happy if he wants to stay here. I'm happy because he's a good player. In the next few days, I will speak with him again."

RSC out for a month

Bad news - Rocky's out for a while. Best get used to seeing Benjani leading the line.

Megson wants Benjani

SkySports.com understands that Bolton Wanderers are set to move for Benji in January, and claim that City may accept £1.5million.

Sounds like a decent offer. Benjani's continued presence at the club this season is a bit of an anomaly. Given how Mark Hughes wants to destroy all memories of the 'unprofessional' Eriksson era it's a surprise how £3.87million of Bernardo Corradi tribute act can still train at Carrington.

VK and MJ play for reserves

Our two talented young midfielders on the fringe of the first team played ninety minutes for the reserves last night. Speaking of talented young players, Benjani also played.

Caicedo move confirmed

On the official site.

It's testament to the relentless pace of our progress this summer that a player for whom we paid £5.3m last January, and who hit an impressive seven goals (plus the backheel at the Hawthornes) in the 'back nine' of last season can be so far from the reckoning this year.

Of course, it's possible that Caicedo will have a good season in Portugal and come back to City for 2010/11. But I'd bet strongly against it. The fact is that player recruitment has moved quicker than anyone would have expected this summer, and no-one's place is safe. Vassell's gone to Turkey, Jô's already returend to Everton, and now Evans is set to go to Sheffield United.

Popular as he is, I'd be surprised if Bozhinov survives the summer. And if Benjani's still here come September 1, something's gone quite wrong. Our stable of strikers for the 2010/11 season will almost certainly be: Carlos Tévez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy - none of whom were here even in 2008. Such is the pace of change.

Some good injury news

For a change.

Johnson, out since September with a groin/abdominal injury, is "feeling better and doing work on stabilising an imbalance. His pain level is down, and we're hoping to get him up to speed quickly. He might join in on Monday, barring setbacks".

Petrov, who started the campaign so well before a damaged knee on international duty required surgery, was initially ruled out for the season.

Hughes said: "He's very good fitness-wise, he's a fit guy. He's going back to the surgeon shortly for an update to see if he's ahead of schedule, then we can start getting him back in first-team sessions again."

Benjani's also on the way back, but I'm less excited about that because unlike Petrov and Johnson he's not very good.