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More January Matters

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VMC’s Lorna takes her latest look at what the papers say and whether or not City will move to strengthen a title winning squad this month…

According to some rumour mongering anti-City hacks it seems Sergio Aguero is unhappy at Manchester City against all interviews and tweets the player has made of late! Sergio’s marriage has reportedly broken down and with his wife and child away from him our star striker is heartbroken.

The latter fact is obviously not good for City. Yes, of course we feel for anybody who has personal problems but his loss is not really our concern and this could quite possibly explain less goals and less top performances than he gave us last season.

Real Madrid are very keen on tempting the 24 year old striker to the Santiago Bernabeu which would suit Sergio as this would take him nearer to his son. It is better to have a happy striker rather than one that is unhappy and not scoring. I guess now with Sergio being out due to hamstring injury and under intensive treatment in Italy he will have time to mull over his situation and if he did decide to leave lets hope it is in the Summer and not when we are part way through the season! This is second occasion that I have heard rumours now about Kun leaving, the first one being that he was unhappy with Mancini openly expressing his dismay at the lack of goals being scored and now this. With a heavy heart I ask myself who is on offer from leading clubs to tempt us to part with our cash if he did go?

City were linked with a move for Barcelona striker David Villa earlier in the season but it seems Napoli striker Edinson Cavani has moved to the top of the alleged list. If that move went ahead then it would pave the way for Sergio to leave and go to Real Madrid to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. This would make for a contented Jose Mourinho but at teh same time leave a lot of unhappy Manchester City fans!

Regarding the ever present Mario Balotelli saga, Napoli’s crazy President, Mr. De Laurentiis, states he would much rather Balotelli came to Napoli to play alongside Cavani rather than sell Cavani to The Blues. City could be said to be in a bit of a quandry regarding not only Cavani but also Balotelli. Seemingly, many people can see the good in Balotelli apart from of course long suffering City fans who have seen nothing but grief lately between Roberto Mancini and the 22 year old enigmatic forward. So back to the drawing board it is with Mario or can Cavani be perusuaded to walk over to the Premier League side of life?

Carlos Tevez seems to be backing Balotelli’s corner, having a word in his ear, trying to pursuade him to stay put and pull out all the stops and get him to start firing on all cylinders again. I guess we don’t colelctively mind him staying as long as he can show he is worth the effort and the ridicule that Mancio is receiving from the likes of Taggart (who seems to take great delight in slagging the City boss off) but the jury is out on this one and I think it will be for a long time. The other side of the coin is that if Aguero left, would we class Balotelli as a good replacement? The answer right now would be No!

Watford manager Gianfranco Zola had words of praise and encouragement for Balotelli saying he should be allowed to shine and that way we will get the best out of him. I think this still remains a hard call for Mancio to make ‘should he stay or should he go.’

A replacement for Balotelli if Mancio should choose to let him go is our very own John Guidetti. I personally fail to see why after he has just signed a new contract with us and is working up to full fitness why Mancini is thinking of loaning him out again! Why would he do that? It does not make sense. Also, if the rumour mill is to be believed and Sergio is unhappy we need to look at Guidetti in greater detail.

Despite what Mr. Silvio Berlusconi says, City could aways loan Balotelli to AC Milan with the option to buy and give Guidetti the playing time he needs. In the Eriedivisie he scored no less than 20 goals and 8 registered assists in 23 league games which is pretty good in my book. All this and only at the age of 20. Yes, this was with Feyenoord but what is to say he cannot do this for the club he he belonged to since he was 16?

Guidetti suffered a massive set back early on in his career with the debilitating illness that hit him after he had contracted food poisoning which led to a virus attacking his nervous system. His legs were painfully thin and wasted and all those years of running and leg work was gone in a flash. On the upside Guidetti is now back in training and hopefully we all pray that that illness has not had any long term effect upon his career.

So two big questions on people’s lips around The Etihad of late are ‘Is Aguero really unhappy and looking to move’ and ‘Is Balotelli really ready to start playing and stop making a dick out of himself and the club?’ Time will tell, but we don’t have that much time to spare in the context of the league table standings. Decisions need to be made now and not tomorrow…by the time tomorrow comes it will be the end of the season and then it may be too late.

I don’t feel much will come out of the Modric, Isco, Villa rumours as I am sure that that is all they are. If the cheque book does come out, I just hope Mancini and the club’s new Spanish hierarchy choose wisely and buy good, reputable players and not middle of the road ‘he will do for now’ signings. That will not cut it anymore especially now we have the Rags to chase down and Chelsea and Spurs hot on our tails.

With all the top four teams around us buying into good stock of late, in my opinion, this leaves City flagging behind just a tad with recent non purchases and hit and miss strikers. Fair enough, we are benefitting from good displays by Tevez, Dzeko, Milner and Barry but if one of these fall injured or booked on top of a lengthy injury list then we are running a little thin on the ground as to who to replace them with.

We still need to stock up on our midfield as we do not want to be caught short in that area. Transfer rumours are hinting at The Citizens showing massive interest in Rom Taison. Taison, a 24 year old Brazilian, is an attacking midfielder with Metalist Kharkiv. Originally a target for Chelsea, he is allegedly now fixed firmly in City’s sights and his agents have confirmed to Chelsea that if they want him they have to make a firm bid within 48 hours or he is off elsewhere. Clearly, Chelsea wouldn’t want him to come to us but it is a cut throat business and he who dares and all that. I don’t think we should leave all our business until next summer.

On a final note we have 17 year old Marcos Lopes graduating from the MCFC Academy…what a debut for that young man against Watford in the FA Cup. Speechless was the word he used in describing how he felt when he scored his debut goal with the first team. Manchester City’s youngest goal-scorer of all-time…..well done!

UPCOMING FIXTURES:
all times East Manchester

Su 13Jan 16h00 Arsenal, The Emirates, PL
Sa 19Jan 15h00 Fulham, The Etihad, PL
Sa/Su 26/27Jan Crystal Palace or Stoke City, A, FAC4
Tu 29Jan 19h45 QPR, Loftus Road, PL
Su 03Feb 16h00 Liverpool, The Etihad, PL
Sa 09Feb 17h30 Southampton, St Mary’s, PL


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