Manchester City have agreed a five-year deal to sign former West Ham and Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez.
The 25-year-old Argentine forward, who left Old Trafford last month, will complete his move subject to a medical.
More to follow. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
• Move would net Arsenal striker in excess of £150,000 a week
• Eastlands club complete £25.2m signing of Carlos Tevez
Manchester City expect to follow the £25.5m signing of Carlos Tevez by making Emmanuel Adebayor the ninth striker on their books, having lodged a £20m bid with Arsenal for a player they know is available as long as the price is right. Arsenal want closer to £25m but both clubs are willing to reach a compromise.
Adebayor was identified in the process that led to City withdrawing interest in Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o last week. Talks have accelerated over the last few days and, though Adebayor initially wanted a move to Italy, a salary in excess of £150,000 a week would persuade him to move north.
If everything goes according to plan, City hope the 25-year-old will take some part in their pre-season tour to South Africa, with Mark Hughes’s first-team squad due to fly out on Wednesday with Tevez on board after the club confirmed his arrival on a five-year contract tonight.
“Carlos is an international player of the highest class who possesses all the attributes that will help drive this club forward,” Mark Hughes, the City manager, said. “He is not only outstanding technically but he is a reliable goal scorer and someone who will contribute fully to the team ethic. He gives us another exciting, attacking dimension. I cannot wait to welcome him to City.”
Tevez said his aim was to win more titles with City. “The manager and the owners are very ambitious,” he said. “This is the chance to be involved from the start, an opportunity to help build and create a special experience. I am here for success and to win trophies.”
He added: “There is a great feeling of excitement around the club. Look at the quality of the players who have been signed and the prospect of other top-quality players coming too. Things are happening at this club.” Tevez said the decision to join City was “mine and mine alone”.
City will now redirect their attention to their attempt to sign John Terry from Chelsea and the more straightforward task of agreeing a deal with Arsenal for a player they decided was expendable a long time ago. Adebayor’s reputation plummeted during a disappointing last season. But Hughes is mindful the Togo international scored 30 goals in the 2007-08 campaign. Tevez, meanwhile, is scheduled to take his medical examination tomorrow before an afternoon press conference that, a few miles away at his previous club Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson will be watching with interest.
“I half expected this a long time back,” the United manager said. “I think they did a deal maybe around January because I spoke to him and gave him an offer on the night we played Inter Milan [in March] and he never came back to me.
“I phoned him on holiday [in June] – and he never came back to me. I texted him twice – he never got back. Obviously he had made his mind up a long time ago.”
• Move would net Arsenal striker in excess of £150,000 a week
• Eastlands club complete £25.2m signing of Carlos Tevez
Manchester City expect to follow the £25.5m signing of Carlos Tevez by making Emmanuel Adebayor the ninth striker on their books, having lodged a £20m bid with Arsenal for a player they know is available as long as the price is right. Arsenal want closer to £25m but both clubs are willing to reach a compromise.
Adebayor was identified in the process that led to City withdrawing interest in Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o last week. Talks have accelerated over the last few days and, though Adebayor initially wanted a move to Italy, a salary in excess of £150,000 a week would persuade him to move north.
If everything goes according to plan, City hope the 25-year-old will take some part in their pre-season tour to South Africa, with Mark Hughes’s first-team squad due to fly out on Wednesday with Tevez on board after the club confirmed his arrival on a five-year contract tonight.
“Carlos is an international player of the highest class who possesses all the attributes that will help drive this club forward,” Mark Hughes, the City manager, said. “He is not only outstanding technically but he is a reliable goal scorer and someone who will contribute fully to the team ethic. He gives us another exciting, attacking dimension. I cannot wait to welcome him to City.”
Tevez said his aim was to win more titles with City. “The manager and the owners are very ambitious,” he said. “This is the chance to be involved from the start, an opportunity to help build and create a special experience. I am here for success and to win trophies.”
He added: “There is a great feeling of excitement around the club. Look at the quality of the players who have been signed and the prospect of other top-quality players coming too. Things are happening at this club.” Tevez said the decision to join City was “mine and mine alone”.
City will now redirect their attention to their attempt to sign John Terry from Chelsea and the more straightforward task of agreeing a deal with Arsenal for a player they decided was expendable a long time ago. Adebayor’s reputation plummeted during a disappointing last season. But Hughes is mindful the Togo international scored 30 goals in the 2007-08 campaign. Tevez, meanwhile, is scheduled to take his medical examination tomorrow before an afternoon press conference that, a few miles away at his previous club Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson will be watching with interest.
“I half expected this a long time back,” the United manager said. “I think they did a deal maybe around January because I spoke to him and gave him an offer on the night we played Inter Milan [in March] and he never came back to me.
“I phoned him on holiday [in June] – and he never came back to me. I texted him twice – he never got back. Obviously he had made his mind up a long time ago.”
• Striker will have a medical before signing five-year deal
• Tevez will wear No32 shirt at City of Manchester Stadium
Manchester City have reached an agreement with Carlos Tevez over a proposed move to the City of Manchester Stadium.
The club have agreed personal terms with the 25-year-old, who spent the last two seasons at rivals Manchester United, and the deal has been ratified by the Premier League and the Football Association.
The Argentina striker will now have a medical in Manchester after which he is expected to sign a five-year deal before joining his team-mates for a pre-season tour of South Africa.
“It is terrific news,” City manager Mark Hughes told the official club website. “Carlos is an international player of the highest class who possesses all the attributes that will help drive this club forward.
“He is not only outstanding technically but he is a reliable goal scorer and someone who will contribute fully to the team ethic. He gives us another exciting, attacking dimension.
“I cannot wait to welcome him to City. This is yet another deal that shows the commitment of the owner Sheikh Mansour to make this club the very best it can possibly be. I am sure our fans will give Carlos an exceptionally warm welcome.”
Once Tevez completes his transfer he will wear the No32 shirt at Manchester City.
Manchester City midfielder Vincent Kompany is set to miss the start of the Premier League season because he is scheduled to undergo foot surgery.
Belgian international Kompany, 23, has been forced to return from City’s pre-season training camp in Bavaria.
He needed injections and wore specially adapated boots last season in an attempt to cure the problem.
Boss Mark Hughes told City’s website: "If he has to have an operation Vincent will miss the start of the season."
Kompany joined City from Hamburg in August 2008 for an undisclosed fee.
Hughes added: "We sent him to a consultant surgeon at the end of last season and he recommended injecting the toe and giving him six weeks’ complete rest but he was suffering the same amount of pain again in training in Germany.
"He’s been back to see the surgeon now. We hoped the rest would cure it but it’s a bit more complex than that. It’s important that we address it now and make sure Vince is fit for the rest of the season.
"We nursed him through to the point where he had to concede that he just couldn’t carry on. He had numerous needles into the joint but he stuck with it bravely. He did really well for the team."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Manchester City have ended their interest in Barcelona’s Cameroon international striker Samuel Eto’o.
The two clubs had been in talks over the £25m-rated striker after Barca told the 28-year-old Eto’o they were prepared to let him leave the Nou Camp.
City chief executive Garry Cook said: "The circumstances surrounding him were such that a deal couldn’t be completed.
Eto’o is the second marquee player City have missed out on following Kaka’s decision not to sign in January.
City reportedly made a bid in the region of £100m for the Brazilian midfielder, but he opted to stay with AC Milan, before joining Real Madrid in a £60m transfer in June.
Reports suggested the Eastlands club told Eto’o he could earn wages of up to £250,000 per week, which would have made him the highest-paid player in the world.
606: DEBATE"There are better £20m targets available"
——–HistoryRepeating——-
But the transfer became bogged down in a contractual dispute between Eto’o and Barcelona, who has been offered a new two-year contract by the Catalan club.
Eto’o cost Barcelona £16m when he signed from Mallorca in 2004 and the Cameroon forward has scored more than 100 goals in his five seasons with the club.
He helped the Catalan side win a treble trophy haul of the Spanish league title, domestic cup and Champions League in the 2008-2009 campaign.
City’s summer spending so far has seen them sign striker Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn for £18m and Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry for £12m. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
• Deadline set for close of play tonight
• Club more optimistic about John Terry
Manchester City’s difficulties in trying to capture the marquee signings they crave have brought them to the point of abandoning their pursuit of Samuel Eto’o. The club have set a deadline of close of business tonight to get a definitive answer from the Barcelona striker. Otherwise they plan to withdraw their £25.5m bid.
Unless there is a late change of heart on the part of the Cameroonian, Eto’o's name will be added to a lengthening list of superstars who have rejected City’s “project” despite being offered huge sums in wages. Franck Ribéry and David Villa have turned the club down this summer and in January, City aborted an attempt to sign Kaka from Milan for £93m.
Mark Hughes, City’s manager, had spoken of the need for “patience” over Eto’o but the player’s prevarication – he led City to believe he was keen before appearing to change his mind and then declining to give a clear answer – was beginning to affect City’s rebuilding plans. Eto’o wanted perhaps as much as 50% of the transfer fee as a signing-on fee, on the basis that he could leave Barcelona on a free next year. An already complex issue has been held up by his wrangling with Barcelona and City have decided they cannot devote any more time to it, even though Eto’o has also turned down a contract in Spain.
Garry Cook, City’s chief executive, said: “Samuel Eto’o is undoubtedly a fine footballer but the circumstances surrounding him were such that the deal could not be completed. We now feel the time is right to pursue other avenues and we have a clear and strategic transfer plan, which we continue to follow.”
Cook was also referring to City’s belief that they might have better luck in their attempt to sign John Terry from Chelsea. Terry took part in a training session at Cobham and though Chelsea insist they are relaxed on the issue, City are encouraged by what they hear from the middle men they have employed to sound out Terry and his advisers.
City have signed Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry but Cook is desperate to bring in another established superstar.
“People have come to realise that you don’t go from 0-100mph in no time at all, and expect everything to fit into place,” he said. “We are talking about players of the very highest calibre on the global football stage. You can’t have everybody. The market has been relatively slow. People have been talking about lots of things going on, but the only people doing much are Real Madrid and City – wonderful company to keep, I might add.
“We have always said we will keep our workings internal, and don’t openly discuss any of that information. It’s a good strategy and maintains our dignity, because at the end of the day we will be playing with the very best clubs in the world and we want to behave like one of the best clubs in the world.”
Chelsea would like the issue resolved by the time they travel to the US for a four-game tour next Thursday.
The wife of the former Scotland football captain Colin Hendry died today following surgery to correct the botched liposuction procedure that almost killed her seven years ago.
Denise Hendry, who was 43, had been in intensive care at Salford Royal hospital for several weeks suffering from a meningitis-like infection after undergoing an operation to repair the damage.
She nearly died in April 2002 after the liposuction procedure at the private Broughton Park hospital in Preston, Lancashire, went badly wrong, leaving her with multiple complications.
Hendry, from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, fell ill just two days after the surgery and was treated for septicaemia at the Royal Preston hospital.
Her heart also stopped for four minutes as she went into a cardiac arrest following the botched operation. She suffered nine punctures to her bowel and colon, causing blood poisoning and multiple organ failure, and needed a 16-hour operation in May as part of the long recovery process.
Gustav Aniansson, the cosmetic surgeon who carried out the liposuction procedure, voluntarily applied to be removed from the General Medical Council’s register, and lawyers for the couple later secured a £300,000 damages settlement in November 2006.
Speaking afterwards, Hendry said: “I felt so bad when I thought Colin could have lost his wife and my children would have lost their mother. I felt overwhelming guilt at how stupid I’d been.”
She had been receiving treatment from a specialist in the unit of the National Intestinal Failure Centre, which is based at the hospital.
Her husband, the ex-Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Rangers central defender, had been at her bedside throughout the ordeal.
The couple have four children aged between 19 and nine.
Yesterday, Colin Hendry paid tribute to his wife and spoke of his family’s sense of loss.”Words cannot describe the desolation we feel,” he said.
“I cannot begin to imagine life without her, but we are a strong and devoted family and somehow, if only for Denise’s sake, we will get through.”
• Liverpool manager unhappy at Barry’s choice of Man City
• Alonso and Mascherano get tacit warning about loyalty
Rafael BenÃtez laid bare his anger at the disruption to Liverpool’s transfer strategy yesterday when he accused Gareth Barry of joining Manchester City “100% for money” and demanded greater loyalty from two potential departures, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.
The Liverpool manager remains livid with Barry for favouring City’s ambitions above Champions League football at Anfield, having spent 12 months attempting to lure the England international from Aston Villa. BenÃtez was caught cold by Barry’s £12m move to City as soon as the transfer window reopened last month and, despite the midfielder’s protestations that he wanted to avoid a repeat of last year’s saga with Liverpool, believes the decision was based entirely on the offer of £130,000 a week. City’s package is at least £30,000 a week more than Barry would have earned at Anfield and, BenÃtez argued, tempted the former Villa captain to make the wrong career move.
“Maybe it’s just me but in this market, the top level, I don’t think money is the most important thing,” the Liverpool manager said. “At this level everyone earns big money. The question is do you make the right decisions and do what is best for your career? If it’s just for money sometimes you will make mistakes and I’ve been surprised by some decisions this summer – like Barry. I won’t say too much but it was clearly 100% for money. The most important thing for me, though, is the passion of the players.”
Barry’s transfer was beyond BenÃtez’s control but he is determined to dictate the futures of Alonso and Mascherano, two midfielders under contract at Anfield but coveted by Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. Liverpool have not received an offer from either of the Spanish giants for their midfield pair, despite almost daily declarations of intent from the Bernabéu and Camp Nou, and BenÃtez is adamant he will not be forced into a sale either by his players or their suitors.
Liverpool’s hardball stance could change if they receive a staggering offer from Real or Barcelona and a transfer request from Alonso or Mascherano in the coming weeks. BenÃtez, however, is aggrieved at the uncertainty surrounding two influential players, and the fact it is largely of the midfielders’ own making, with his transfer strategy now heavily dependent on whether Alonso and/or Mascherano stay or leave. The Liverpool manager said: “When you are the manager of a top side you can tell players that they are staying. You have to decide about the way to do things but I don’t have a problem with that. We have to be strong enough and, if we have to be, we will be. Both players are under contract and we are really pleased about that.
“Don’t forget we signed Alonso from Real Sociedad when nobody knew about him and we renewed his contract two years ago, so he was happy then, and you know what happened with Mascherano at West Ham before we brought him here. Both players owe a lot to Liverpool. They owe Liverpool some loyalty and they both know that.”
BenÃtez would not divulge what his response would be should Alonso or Mascherano submit a transfer request, however. “That is not the case at the moment,” he added. “At the moment we are pleased with them. I don’t know what can happen but both players are under contract.”
• He wants to be at Chelsea next season, says Ancelotti
• New manager compares Terry to Milan great Paolo Maldini
Chelsea’s latest manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has stated that there is “no price” for John Terry and that the centre-half will remain captain of the club. Manchester City have been repeatedly linked with a move for the player, with some reports claiming that they would double his wages.
“I think that Terry is a symbol of the team,” he said. “Naturally he will be the captain next time; he says he wants to be at Chelsea next season and we want to keep him forever. There is no price – he will be captain of Chelsea forever.
“There is no problem. For him, for us, the story continues for Chelsea. For captain I would like to have Terry. He is very close to [Paolo] Maldini in professionalism and I would like to keep him as captain.”
Maldini lifted the European Cup twice as Milan’s captain during Ancelotti’s time as manager at San Siro and is widely regarded as one of the finest defenders of his generation. Ancelotti is aware that his record in Europe was one one of the factors that got him the job and he said: “I am here for this, to win the Champions League,” he said. “I think this is the great competition in the world.”
Ancelotti, who was speaking in halting English after a crash-course in the language, added that he does not expect many changes in the club’s playing staff, but he did announce the arrival of the Russian left-winger Yuri Zhirkov and confirmed that Manchester City’s Daniel Sturridge and Middlesbrough’s Ross Turnbull had joined the club. He said he does not expect the team to change much as they are a great side already.
“I think that Zhirkov, Sturridge and Turnbull will be Chelsea players now. I know a lot of Zhirkov, not so much Sturridge and Turnbull. But I am looking forward to working with them,” he said.
When asked if he would be making bids for Milan’s forward Pato or the Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo, Ancelotti remained uncommitted. “I don’t want to talk about other players,” he said. “If there is a good situation for us we can tray and improve the team. I don’t want to talk about them because they are Milan players.
“I don’t think [there will be many changes] because Chelsea are a great team now. If you can improve this it would be better for me and the club.”
It remains to be seen whether Deco and Ricardo Carvalho are part of Ancelotti’s plans. The Portugal internationals have been linked with Inter, but the Italian club appear to have cooled their interest in the pair. Ancelotti indicated that Shevchenko is the most likely to leave. “Shevchenko will come in London on July 9 and will work with us in preseason and at this moment we speak with him to find the right solution for us,” Ancelotti said. “Carvalho and Deco are Chelsea players. If in the future a player wants to go, they have to speak with the club and we take the right decision for the player and for us.”
Ancelotti, who was in good humour throughout, brushed off any suggestions that he is concerned about being Chelsea’s fifth manager in five years and said he just wants to get on with the job. “I am anxious to start because I like my work. I like to start now a new experience. I’ve found a very good organisation and young people to work with me.”
Samuel Eto’o The Cameroon forward has been in the news recently with Manchester City trying to tempt him to Eastlands as the 28-year-old enters into the final year of his contract at Barcelona. Eto’o is believed to want to see out this time at the Nou Camp, but Mark Hughes this week again
• Players in City dressing room on good terms with defender
• Chelsea reluctance to negotiate among obstacles to move
Manchester City are to persist in their attempts to sign John Terry amid a growing sense within the club that the Chelsea captain is seriously considering his future and could be tempted by a salary that would almost double his current pay.
Mark Hughes, the City manager, has been encouraged by messages from associates of the player, the most prominent being one of Terry’s international team-mates. There are several players inside the City dressing room who are on good terms with Terry, and Hughes has spent months putting together enough background information to be confident that a deal most Chelsea fans would like to believe was fantasy is, indeed, a possibility.
That manifested itself in the City executive chairman, Garry Cook, making a verbal bid of around £30m during a meeting with his Chelsea counterpart, Peter Kenyon, and following it up with a faxed offer stating they would also pull out of the tribunal to set the fee for Daniel Sturridge, the teenage striker who has just moved in the other direction.
The City hierarchy were braced for Chelsea’s reaction, namely an aggressively worded statement that the offer was “completely rejected” and “[Chelsea] would like to make clear, and will not do so again, that John is not for sale”.
Chelsea’s reluctance to enter into negotiations is genuine and City are acutely aware there are obstacles to overcome given Terry’s strong affinity to the London club and the way he has portrayed himself as “Mr Chelsea”, openly declaring that he would never leave Stamford Bridge.
There is, however, also a sense that Chelsea’s decision to publicise the Terry bid, when they could feasibly have kept it quiet, is the opening move of a PR operation to make it public knowledge that they are opposed to losing the player. The £30m offer was largely based on that being the amount Manchester United paid for Rio Ferdinand when they made him the world’s most expensive defender in 2002. The difference is that Ferdinand was 23 at the time, whereas Terry is 28, but Chelsea are known to regard it as an embarrassingly low bid.
• Samuel Eto’o has been offered a £180,000-a-week deal
• Hughes’ City spending is set to hit £200m
Manchester City have made a formal £25.5m bid for the Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o and put together a “stratospheric offer” to make him the highest-paid player in English football.
Eto’o, one of the most prolific attackers of his generation and the scorer of the first goal when Barcelona beat Manchester United in last season’s Champions League final, will earn a weekly salary in the region of £180,000 if he can be persuaded to take part in the next phase of City’s relentless and financially driven campaign to be recognised as one of Europe’s elite clubs.
The capture of such an acclaimed player would be another significant coup for City but it also tells only part of the story, with the manager, Mark Hughes, on the verge of taking his spending through the £200m mark by signing Carlos Tevez to play alongside Eto’o. Both players have informed City that they want to join the revolution and, if everything goes according to plan, City will have taken their summer spending to £80m by the time the players report back for pre-season training.
“Eto’o has a stratospheric offer from City, which would convert him into the best-paid player in the world,” Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, said. “It’s starting to become clear that he has this monster offer. He wants to stay but an offer like this is very difficult to refuse. If Eto’o accepts this stratospheric offer, we will have to bring in someone. If Eto’o accepts Manchester City’s mammoth offer, we will need another striker.”
The man Barcelona want is David Villa at Valencia, once a target of Hughes until it became clear he wanted to stay in Spain, while Laporta said a deal for the 20-year-old Keirrison of Palmeiras was close to being agreed, the reported fee being €15m (£12.8m).
City have remained determined to bring in another established superstar and a £25.5m offer is worthy of Laporta’s superlatives, given that the player in question is 28 and in the final year of his contract.
Over a five-year contract Eto’o would earn around £45m which, contrary to what Laporta says, is not as lucrative as some of the salaries on offer at Real Madrid. But it would see him replace Robinho as the best-paid player in the Premier League and might make up for any misgivings the Cameroonian has about joining a club that will not be involved in Europe next season.
City have already signed Roque Santa Cruz for £17m from Blackburn Rovers and, with Tevez, Robinho, Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips all on board, Hughes would then have legitimate claims to boasting one of the most exciting and dangerous attacking line-ups of any club in the world. Tevez’s two-year loan agreement at Manchester United officially expires on Tuesday and the Argentinian has provisionally agreed a £140,000-a-week contract to move across the city.
Ironically the first-team place he craves may now be anything but guaranteed but Tevez must also be impressed by City’s ambition at a time when the club’s billionaire owners in Abu Dhabi are living up to their promise to back Hughes’s judgment in the transfer market.
Hughes, who returns from a family holiday on Tuesday, was determined to get his transfer business done early in the summer and has also signed two players from Aston Villa, the England international Gareth Barry for £12m and Stuart Taylor, as a back-up goalkeeper for Shay Given.
The club have resigned themselves to John Terry staying at Chelsea, despite being led to believe for most of last season that the England captain wanted, at the very least, to hear of their plans. However, they believe they have the financial muscle to make Everton back down over the proposed transfer of Joleon Lescott, even if it might cost around £20m.
• Samuel Eto’o has been offered a £180,000-a-week deal
• City’s summer transfer spending is set to hit £200m
Manchester City have made a formal £25.5m bid for the Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o and put together a “stratospheric offer” to make him the highest-paid player in English football.
Eto’o, one of the most prolific attackers of his generation and the scorer of the first goal when Barcelona beat Manchester United in last season’s Champions League final, will earn a weekly salary in the region of £180,000 if he can be persuaded to take part in the next phase of City’s relentless and financially driven campaign to be recognised as one of Europe’s elite clubs.
The capture of such an acclaimed player would be another significant coup for City but it also tells only part of the story, with the manager, Mark Hughes, on the verge of taking his spending through the £200m mark by signing Carlos Tevez to play alongside Eto’o. Both players have informed City that they want to join the revolution and, if everything goes according to plan, City will have taken their summer spending to £80m by the time the players report back for pre-season training.
“Eto’o has a stratospheric offer from City, which would convert him into the best-paid player in the world,” Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, said. “It’s starting to become clear that he has this monster offer. He wants to stay but an offer like this is very difficult to refuse. If Eto’o accepts this stratospheric offer, we will have to bring in someone. If Eto’o accepts Manchester City’s mammoth offer, we will need another striker.”
The man Barcelona want is David Villa at Valencia, once a target of Hughes until it became clear he wanted to stay in Spain, while Laporta said a deal for the 20-year-old Keirrison of Palmeiras was close to being agreed, the reported fee being €15m (£12.8m).
City have remained determined to bring in another established superstar and a £25.5m offer is worthy of Laporta’s superlatives, given that the player in question is 28 and in the final year of his contract.
Over a five-year contract Eto’o would earn around £45m which, contrary to what Laporta says, is not as lucrative as some of the salaries on offer at Real Madrid. But it would see him replace Robinho as the best-paid player in the Premier League and might make up for any misgivings the Cameroonian has about joining a club that will not be involved in Europe next season.
City have already signed Roque Santa Cruz for £17m from Blackburn Rovers and, with Tevez, Robinho, Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips all on board, Hughes would then have legitimate claims to boasting one of the most exciting and dangerous attacking line-ups of any club in the world. Tevez’s two-year loan agreement at Manchester United officially expires on Tuesday and the Argentinian has provisionally agreed a £140,000-a-week contract to move across the city.
Ironically the first-team place he craves may now be anything but guaranteed but Tevez must also be impressed by City’s ambition at a time when the club’s billionaire owners in Abu Dhabi are living up to their promise to back Hughes’s judgment in the transfer market.
Hughes, who returns from a family holiday on Tuesday, was determined to get his transfer business done early in the summer and has also signed two players from Aston Villa, the England international Gareth Barry for £12m and Stuart Taylor, as a back-up goalkeeper for Shay Given.
The club have resigned themselves to John Terry staying at Chelsea, despite being led to believe for most of last season that the England captain wanted, at the very least, to hear of their plans. However, they believe they have the financial muscle to make Everton back down over the proposed transfer of Joleon Lescott, even if it might cost around £20m.
BANGKOK – English Premiership club Manchester City, owned by ousted Thai
prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, plan to sign three Thai players,
according to Vittaya Khunpleum, chairman of Thai side Chonburi FC.
City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who took the helm after Thaksin bought
the club in July, is due to arrive in Thailand on Friday to make the
signings, Vittaya said.
Two of the players – Suree Sukha (picture) and Kietprawut Sai-aeo – come
from his club, while the other player is Theerasil Daengda from Bangkok’s
Muangthong-Nongchok United FC.
Vittaya hailed it as a chance to showcase Asian and Thai football.
Thaksin bought City for US$162.6 million ($235 million) and his team are
currently third in the Premiership. – AFP
