We’ve all heard the reports about who Man City plan to bring in during the January transfer window right? Within five minutes of buying the club, Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, head of the Abu Dhabi United Group was telling the world he’s already got 18 players names on his most-wanted list, including Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Quite how they expect to persuade Europe’s top players to sign for a club which, at the present time, has only money on its side, we’ve yet to see. You see, despite this Al-Fahim bloke telling Hughes he can play at outbidding everyone else for players like Kaka, what he needs to think about is what else he has to offer because, as Kaka’s personal assistant, Diogo Kotscho has already pointed out “Kaka would prefer a club like Chelsea, Real Madrid or Milan.”
Kotscho says “This season Manchester City don’t have a team that could win the Champions League.” Not such a big deal considering they’re not even in it but like the man says, this is something they’d do well to concentrate on before bragging about all the players they plan to sign, because as he quite rightly points out, “It’s not just Kaka, they will only get the very best players if they attain this level.”
However, it would seem Al-Fahim and Man City regard this as a mere formality, since the shopping list is reported to be growing by the day, with the latest names added being Steven Gerrard and Michael Essien.
Now that City have come into money they appear to have inherited the good old ‘sources’ as well and according to one of theirs, “Mark (Hughes) knows money is no object but he also wants to bring in the kind of players who will fit in with his plans, not just spend massive money for the sake of it. Gerrard and Essien in the same midfield would be incredible.” Maybe they would but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
For a start, are any of the ‘big four’ really likely to hand over their top players just because City are waving money around? I hardly think so. Besides, whilst I’m less sure about Gerrard, who, let’s face it came close to being persuaded to move to Chelsea before he saw the smoke coming off the Liverpool shirts, Essien could be a different kettle of fish altogether. After all, when Mourinho came calling earlier this summer, our powerhouse midfielder responded by signing a contract extension keeping him at Chelsea until 2013. Not only that, but he made it pretty easy for the club, readily committing himself without any apparent need for lengthy negotiations to squeeze every possible penny out of them.
So is there anything Man City have got right now that might persuade these players to desert their clubs? Answers on the back of a stamp please.
Blue is the colour
