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

Bridge out for a month

Disappointing injury news this evening: Wayne Bridge requires a shoulder hernia operation and will be out for a month. He'd found a bit of form since coming back from his knee ligament injury, and we need him for a crucial run of games in our sights.

None of the alternatives really demand inclusion. We know that Gareth Barry and Joleon Lescott can play there but as two of the pillars of the side I doubt they'll be moved. So it's between the two specialists - Javi Garrido and Sylvinho - and Pablo Zabaleta. Garrido is probably the man in possession, having played there during the winter when Bridge was injured. My hunch is he will go for Zabaleta, who is slightly more reliable, now that Patrick Vieira is available in midfield. Micah Richards will continue at right back.

Sylvinho looks forward

This has been reported as being 'Brazilians welcome arrival of Mancini' which I don't think is quite the point. Sylvinho is simply making the important point that we have 21 EPL games left as well as a League Cup semi-final against United. This can still be a historic season for MCFC, but not if we let recent events distract us:

“It has been a strange few days but when you’re talking about football at a high level, it’s always difficult,” Sylvinho said. “Some things happen and, as a player, you have to be prepared to adapt to a new system.

“Even when you’ve got a new coach, training is normal and we try to do our best. Mark Hughes is a good guy, a good manager, a good boss and he tried to do his job and the best for the club, but football is too quick, it changes a lot and you have to be prepared.”

I imagine that Sylvinho will play at left back on Boxing Day - unless Mancini happens to like the look of Javi Garrido. But with all that Serie A experience I don't know if Mancini will see Sylvinho's lack of pace as a major stumbling to his playing regularly for us at fullback.

Bridge goes on the defensive

After Alan Hansen's Match of the Day demolition job:

He said: "I didn't watch Match of the Day that night but it's not going to hurt or bother anyone. I didn't need to watch it to realise I played badly that day.

"Alan Hansen said a few things but I'm not going to cry about it.

"I've come in since and trained hard. Since then I feel I've done well defensively and attacked as much as I could.

The shame with that Burnley horrorshow is that it has distracted people from the fact that Wayne Bridge has had a pretty good season to date. Calm and reliable in defence, and more incisive than people realise going forward - he's certainly a huge improvement on those that have gone before. And so I do feel sorry for him that there has been such attention on what was a very anomalous performance.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see who plays in his place for the next few weeks. I think the most likely scenario is Sylvinho, although he may just use Gareth Barry there as a means to partner Nigel de Jong and Stephen Ireland in central midfield. One other option is Joleon Lescott with either Vincent Kompany or Nedum Onuoha alongside the captain at centre half, but I think Hughes would be loathe to break up what is an increasingly functional partnership. And I'm not sure Javi Garrido has recovered from his shameful Stretford End coining is up to it either.

Sylvinho loves City

So much that he wants to stay for another season to shake off that Glauber 2.0 tag once and for all:

"I would definitely like to remain longer," he added.

"The project to make this club one of the best in Europe and the world cannot be completed in six months or a year and I would like to be part of it for as long as possible.

"What really pleased me was finding how big this club was already and that everyone around it is working hard to make it even bigger.

"We have a lot of good players and an intelligent and good man in manager Mark Hughes but the key is to make sure the mentality in the dressing room is right.

"Every minute of the day in every week has to be geared towards thinking about winning three points in the next game."

Sparky, sign him up.

Bridge injured

Forgot to include this below: Wayne Bridge hobbled off with a thigh strain this evening. If he can't make it on Sunday we may see a City debut for Sylvinho, presuming he's fit. Failing that it's Stretford End coin-assault victim Javi Garrido. I think Zabaleta's a better left back than Garrido - certainly in this sort of game - but he's also struggling for fitness.

Or how about Lescott at left back and a first start of the season for Vincent Kompany?

Or even Gareth Barry at left back and Ireland and de Jong in midfield?

We are literally awash with options.

Sylvinho talks up Robi

Praise from his new teammate:

"He is really happy that the club has now got Adebayor and Tevez, because that helps him a lot."

"It puts this club on a different level, and it does the same for Robinho. He is one of the best players in Brazil and plays for the national team, so this kind of help will be really important to him."

"I don't like to compare players, or clubs or coaches. In the world there are five or six different players who are at a high level, and Robinho is one of them."

It will be interesting to see if Robinho and Sylvinho strike up quite the same friendship as Robinho did with his former Santos teammate Elano. One Brazilian commenter - Da C.I.A. - suggested that there might be tension between Robinho and Sylvinho as the latter played for Corinthians - Santos' great rivals in São Paulo - never mind the Barcelona / Real Madrid rivalry, as well there might be with Tévez - who spent two years at Corinthians long after Sylvinho had left.

McGivern joins Leicester

From the Leicester City site:

Nigel Pearson has bolstered his Leicester City squad with the loan signing of Ryan McGivern from Manchester City.

The 19 year old left-back joins the Foxes until January from the Premier League side and City are waiting to hear back from the Premier League for Ryan to receive clearance to play in Monday night's clash against Newcastle United, at St. James' Park.

Unlike most of our loaned-out players, there might just be a future at City for McGivern. With Sylvinho on a one-year deal and Javi Garrido on his way out a good year for McGivern could well see him become our first choice back up left back in 2010/11.

The next paulista

I wrote last September that all four of Brazilian contingent were paulistas - that is, from the state of São Paulo. As it turned out, having four Brazilians did not work out either on or off the pitch last season, and Elano, Jô and Glauber have all now left. But Mark Hughes clearly has a heart, because not only has he brought in a new Brazilian to pal up with Robinho, but he's another paulista too: straight outta São Paulo.

He is, though, a former Corinthians player, and I gather that Corinthians and Santos (Robinho and Elano's former club) are rivals. Can any of my Brazilian readers (58 visits from there last month) shed any light on this?

Sylvinho signs

One of the smoother transfers that we've done this summer; City have signed veteran leftback Sylvinho on a free transfer from Barcelona.

On the surface this looks quite out of sync with our other major business this summer. Having tied up Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Tévez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Barry and Kolo Touré so far this feels like a bit of a throwback to the Keegan/Pearce recruitment policy: picking up experienced thirtysomething internationals on short term deals, whose hauls of caps and medals seemed to insulate them from being dropped as they drifted through games. Think Steve McManaman, Michael Tarnat, Hatem Trabelsi, Ousmane Dabo, Bernardo Corradi and even Dietmar Hamann for 2006/07 if not 2007/08.

But one of the great luxuries of our current position is that we don't have to pick players just because they're famous. Sylvinho's not going to be first choice, and so if he wants to play he's going to have to earn it. When we can have Nigel de Jong, Pablo Zabaleta and Craig Bellamy on the bench, no-one's going to get into the team by default.

Back to my main point, though: this signing is more in keeping with the main trends of this summer's recruitment policy than is first apparent. The three key themes so far are: top six Premier League experience, trophy success, and the phasing out of the Eriksson purchases. Sylvinho fits with all of these.

First: top six Premier League experience. I've written about this before but every player Hughes has signed this summer (including Terry who did not join and Lescott who will do so soon) has at least two seasons' experience of finishing in the top six of the Premier League. The one exception is Roque Santa Cruz who finished seventh in his one full season with Blackburn. Hughes' thinking is clear: how better to take MCFC to sixth or higher than to fill them with players who have already achieved the same at other clubs? And Sylvinho fits this. He spent two years at Arsenal, making 23 EPL starts in both 1999/00 and 2000/01. In both of those seasons Arsenal finished second.

Second: trophy winning experience. Hughes spoke recently of the importance of players who have won major trophies in their career. He mentioned that a list of current players' trophy successes would impress. I compiled the list, and it does. Two Champions League medals, six Premier Leagues, five FA Cups, three League Cups, two La Ligas and many more besides. In his career to date Sylvinho has won one Brazilian title with Corinthians, three Spanish titles with Barcelona and of course two European Cups. I'll update the trophy winners list later and re-publish it with corrections. But it's an impressive addition to the squad in this regard too.

The final strand of this summer has been the phasing out of all those players Eriksson signed in that exotic summer of 2007 (and January 2008). Tévez, Adebayor and Santa Cruz have allowed us to loan out Caicedo and Bozhinov, while the introduction of Barry in midfield has seen us sell off Gelson and Elano. The arrival of Sylvinho can only end Javi Garrido's spell at City, with a move to Racing Santander rumoured. Then, only Benjani and Martin Petrov would remain of the SGE signings. And I wouldn't be surprised if they both left before 1 September.

Rather than a departure from established transfer policy, this is almost as representative of it as the Lescott deal.

Sylvinho imminent

You wait for City to sign an experienced left sided defender and then we go and get two at once.

Both Sky Sports and the M.E.N. are both reporting that we are to confirm the signing of Brazilian international Sylvinho within the next few hours, on a one year deal.

This is really quite exciting. More to follow, I'm sure.