Manchester City plan summer bids for Ribery, Henry, Terry, Santa Cruz and so on
Sheikh Mansour considers a whole host of ‘box office signings’
Manchester City are no strangers to outlandish bids for the world’s top players, so the transfer news in this morning’s Times comes as little surprise. According to the newspaper, the Citizens will kickstart their assault on the Big Four this summer with bids for Franck Ribery, Thierry Henry, John Terry, and Roque Santa Cruz. Of course, they have been linked to all these stars before, but allow us to consider the likelihood and implications of each of these moves in the present climate…
Franck Ribery
The handsome 25-year-old has been King of Munich since 2007, and it would cost at least £30m to relieve him of his Bundesliga duties. As The Times correctly points out, the problem lies in Robinho. The inconsistent Brazilian plays in a similar position to Ribery, and it would be unfeasible to play them both. Therefore, Ribery could only come in if Robinho leaves, something that Mark Hughes probably wouldn’t object to, but the Brazilian may struggle to find a new home if Chelsea aren’t interested.
Thierry Henry
Like with Ribery and Bayern Munich, Manchester City have yet to approach Barcelona formally, but have been touting a bid with third parties for Henry for some time. The Frenchman may only cost £10m or so (that’ll be £15m if City are asking), but he has gone on record saying there is only one Premier League club in his heart, and they play in red.
John Terry
How we guffawed when whispers of City’s intentions to sign Chelsea’s best darts player first emerged in January, but the rumour has been gaining pace and it is now claimed the Manchester side will enquire after his availability this summer. At which point they will be told “no”.
Roque Santa Cruz
After approximately six thousand rebuffed bids in the transfer window, it looked as if City had agreed terms with Blackburn and met the £25m asking price for their Paraguayan hitman on deadline day, but it fell through. However, Santa Cruz’s £17m release clause will be effective in June, so he may finally end up with a club who can spell his name correctly.
The Spoiler feels that the Citizens will land their Blackburn target, but the others will not even consider the move until the club gain some silverware, and lose their formidable transfer market reputation.
1 response so far
Little Britain // July 19, 2009 at 5:53 pm
They’ll never get John Terry
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