As dapper City gaffer Roberto Mancini prepares to exchange the vineyards of Italy for the Vine Inn in town then pre season training, he’s had a fair bit to say…
SportCity and the Eastlands boardroom have been calmness personified amid the by now familiar ‘Man City are going to sign everyone again’ shrieking media and rival pundit clamour.
The most glaring aspect of this close season is that The Citizens do not have to make wholesale squad changes now a clearly well bonded fighting unit have broken their trophy duck and secured Champions League football inside Mancio’s first full season.
A squad tweak is in order yet the Blues boss for some reason has decided to speak to the Italian press twice at length in the past fortnight to reveal his transfer market intentions.
Perhaps the most bizarre development he’s revealed is that Inter Milan and City were involved in swap deal discussions over 53 goal City striker one Carlos Tevez. Mancio tells us that Inter didn’t fancy giving up 30 year old Samuel Eto’o for Tevez. This sentence alone stirs up a hornet’s nest of who was behind what and why in this particular negotiation. Ultimately though, the City manager’s decision to go public on this episode can be best described as unhelpful.
Elsewhere, there’s been much talk this past weekend of an imminent Arsenal exodus with Arsene Wenger coming in for continued stick and hack advice over what he should be doing next. From his players to a section of his supporters there are some short memories of what the Frenchman has done for that club. But back to City and Gael Clichy, at what many Blues hope will be one of the cheapest pieces of business City have done in 2 years is alleged to be nailed on for Ashton New Road. The City boss issued this week a ‘no, not yet’ when quizzed anout wantaway Clichy team mate Samir Nasri, but stated that the arrival of the uncompromising Partizan defender Stefan Savic was a done deal.
The exit door is looming meanwhile for SWP, Shay Given, Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy. As the sports desks in the Street of Shame continue to play pin the tail on the future destination, we can apparantly factor in Wigan, Villa, Newcastle and Everton respectively for these senior players next week.
Back to who might be coming in and Mancio doesn’t seem to be looking much beyond Italy for his share of the scouting. Ezequiel Lavezzi, Pablo Armero, Javier Pastore, Marek Hamsik, Edinson Cavani, Pablo Armero, Mauricio Isla and Alessio Cerci have all come in for the City boss’s public praise and scrutiny over the past week.
In other departure gate news, stuck ‘feel the the love’ record Emmanuel Adebayor found another hacks shoulder to cry on as he talked about himself for a change.
Finally, we return to Mancini. He has also taken the opportunity to declare his commitment to the side he has transformed into title contenders despite repeated calls for his return to Italy:
‘I am in England and I still have a two-year contract with City, where I have a good relationship with the owners. The Premier League is the best. In Italy, the stadiums are empty and this makes me very sad.’
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