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.

'Manchester is a great team'

Miralem Pjanić has been talking about his Bosnian team-mate Edin Džeko, and his interest in joining City:

"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.

Džeko update

We do not look much closer to signing Edin Džeko. He has spoken of his enthusiasm for a transfer but until we can convince Wolfsburg that he is worth less than £34million we won't bring him to City.

Džeko said this week:

"I want to clarify that it is not a matter of money, but of ambition. I feel I have to take a leap in quality and play for a big club. It is an important moment of my career and I also explained that to the leaders of Wolfsburg.

This would sound like what the tabloids call a ''Come and Get Me' Plea' to Garry Cook but for the fact he is known to be keen on a move to Italy as well. Juventus and Milan have long-standing interests in him and so Džeko has to choose between them and us he'll be off to Serie A. This means that we ought to be wary of news that Juventus have bid. Their new transfer director Beppe Marotta has confirmed their move:

'Dzeko? It's the dream that I'm working on,' said Marotta. He is one of the best strikers in the world and clearly he is an object of our desire.

It's true that we are negotiating and I have spoken to them (Wolfsburg) but they are asking for a lot and we are trying to follow the cheaper option. They like some of our players but we know that what you buy is not always better than what you sell.'

Of course, however far away from reaching an agreement with Wolfsburg we are, Juventus will only be further. But it's another obstacle in what is not an easy transfer to complete. And I can't see our offer to throw in Roque Santa Cruz being the dealbreaker.

Džeko update

A strange day of Edin Džeko news. Last night the deadline passed for his €40million buy out clause. Now inactive, Wolfsburg would be under no compulsion to sell him to us. It seemed, at a surface glance, that our chance to sign Džeko had passed. Wolfsburg sporting director Dieter Hoeness said:

"The conditions have not been met.

"We are very pleased that the period of uncertainty is over. He is a player of huge quality who would have been very difficult for us to replace."

But this did not quite fit with what we knew. We had heard that City were keen on Džeko, but that we were relaxed about letting the clause expire so that we could freely negotiate a see with his club. We would not have done this were we not sufficiently confident of striking a deal. That is, if we were not sure that Džeko wanted to come to City, we would not have put ourselves in a position where the club had the chance to say no. Surely there was something else to this, another card in our hand?

So it is a relief but not surprise to read that deal is still alive. A Daily Mail exclusive on Wednesday says this:

Wolfsburg manager Steve McClaren will be disappointed with Dzeko's departure but will have a decent transfer kitty to launch his assault on the transfer market.

General manager Dieter Hoeness had earlier expressed delight that Dzeko was staying.

However, City's money in the end looks to have persuaded Wolfsburg it was too good an opportunity to turn down, regardless of timing.

This makes sense. The idea that we had let the clause lapse out of ignorance or complacency never sounded quite right. We have still got a long way left to travel to complete this deal, but we are still moving forward on the right road.

Džeko linked

Two new and fairly fast moving transfer stories emerged yesterday evening, regarding our interest in Edin Džeko and David Silva. I'll blog about David Silva later but for now it's all about the man for Sarajevo.

This story started yesterday afternoon with Sky Sports News' 'understanding' that we were in talks with his representatives over a move. Speculation was inevitable this weekend as Džeko has a €40m (£34m) release clause in his contract which expires on Monday. Steve McClaren said in his unveiling as Wolfsburg manager that once the clause has expired his club can 'take a little bit more control over the situation'; meaning, presumably, that they can prevent his leaving or at least demand an extortionate fee. Pursuing the logic of this, MCFC have 72 hours to scrape together the £34m if we want him to be ours.

But I don't think it's that simple. Reports from Ian Herbert and Mark Ogden in today's papers suggest that we are relaxed about letting the deadline pass, comforted by the fact that we have no rival suitors. Come Monday we can negotiate a fee with Wolfsburg free from the pressures of an expiring clause, a fee Ian Herbert expects to be 'at a far lower price' than the €40m. Which implies a firm confidence on our part that we can tempt him to MCFC. Wolfsburg have no financial need to sell and so if they do it will because of enthusiasm for the move on the player's part. So at this point we can say City might well reel this one in.

So, what do I make of this? Christmas Eve enthusiasm, on two counts. The first is that Džeko is the type of player I want us to sign. He's young enough, at 24, with the most fertile years of his career still ahead of him. He is currently playing for a good team in a good league but having already won Bundesliga last season he may well be eager to try elsewhere. Of course our wages will be a factor in his enthusiasm but he would also see us as one of the most upwardly-mobile sides in one of Europe's most exciting divisions. The contrasts with Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott and Kolo Touré are obvious. I've written enough times that players like Džeko, like Jérôme Boateng, are those around whom I want us to build. On an emotional level, too, I prefer seeing us buy from abroad. Another disconcerting element of our summer 2009 recruitment was that we were buying players with whom I was already deeply familiar from their time in the Premier League. It was Aston Villa's Gareth Barry, Arsenal's Kolo Touré - and in some sense it still is. It's harder to take them to heart. But when we signed Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany or Nigel de Jong they felt identifiably ours in a way that the others did not. Hence how quickly I fell for the class of summer 2007.

The second is that Džeko is the type of player I want us to sign. He's the partner Carlos Tévez has been waiting for. As regular readers know (and many disagree with me here), I don't think Adebayor is a good fit. He doesn't hold the ball up, use his physique, manipulate defenders or create space. Roque Santa Cruz can do all this when he plays but his body cannot be trusted. I know who I would most like, who does all these things as well as scoring thirty goals in a debut season including both in a European Cup final. But if I blog any more about Diego Milito I'll look like a stalker. And Milito is either going to be playing for Inter or Real Madrid next season - we don't have a shot. So Džeko is the next best option.

He looks like a genuinely excellent player. His record at Wolfsburg is exceptional. After a necessary bedding-in season he has scored 48 in 66 Bundesliga games, 65 in 87 in all competitions. It's a remarkable record, which won him the Player of the Season award, as well as the Bundesliga itself in 2008/09, and the top scorer gong in 2009/10. Raphael Honigstein named him the third best player in Germany this season, on account of his 22 goals and 10 assists, calling him 'Europe's most technically gifted target man.' Tor-Kristian Karlsen, who used to work in the Bundesliga as a scout says that he has 'absolutely everything' and would 'fit the bill in any of the top teams.'

There's a lot here to be excited about. But let's wait and see how it plays out.