And that is one of the reasons the Blues have been scouting at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana.
On the day England celebrated a new era under Fabio Capello, the City chief declared that he is convinced an African nation will win the World Cup sooner rather than later and has been keeping an eye on any potential summer bargains.
"We have scouts at the games and I have been watching as much as I can on the television and the standard has been very good," said the Blues boss, who this week added Zimbabwe's skipper Benjani to the Blues squad.
"The standard in those nations is increasing quickly and I shouldn't be surprised if one day we will see an African team winning the World Cup.
"If that happens I think it will be good for football and, of course, they have a chance - perhaps the best they have ever had - to show how good they are in 2010 in South Africa."
While his spies have continued to be busy all over the world, Eriksson is looking to give his players some time off after the derby on Sunday.
Thanks to their Cup failure at Sheffield United, and the visit of Everton being put back two days to Monday, February 25, the Blues do not have a game for a fortnight and the manager will give the squad time to refresh their minds and bodies.
"We are going to practice for some days after the derby and then give the players some time off," he revealed. "They have not had much time off recently and they will be mentally refreshed when they return." Tweet
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I wish my boss would give me time off for "mental refreshment".
Oh, to be a footballer!
I do understand the principal though....
No point scouting at the Africa Nations. There are no bargains to be found there anymore. Most of the good players are already playing in Europe with a top team where they have more relaxed rules about work permits. Even if you do unearth a gem, you lose the player at a crucial stage of the season every two years. We are better off scouting Easter Europe: Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania are all in the EU now so there are no work permit problems for them.
This bunch of players does not react well to time off.....on three of four occassions last season Pearce took the team away and even with two weeks off they played absolutely dire lacklustre and lost. He even took them all on a week long holiday in the far east if my memory serves me right and they cam back and contined their winless run against a team that had only had a three day rest (Arsenal school boys in the cup??) and lost.
New Year, new attitude?
DJ, you are very wrong. There have been loads of good players at the ANC, both those still in Africa and those playing for smaller European clubs. Look at top teams and their inclusion of African talent. This is a market City cannot afford to miss out on. And I would think that the cost of losing players such as Essien, Drogba or Muntari was far outwieghed by what they can bring to the team.
Altogether now.
We call him shrek, he's red, he's mr potato head.........
wayne rooney,,,,,,,,wayne rooney!
We call him shrek, he's red, he's mr potato head.........
wayne rooney,,,,,,,,wayne rooney!
I dont know who's judgment is best?? Sven or DJ Chorlton?
hummm it is a tough one
He also said England would win a trophy!
The Pope, Rome
you are the boss!!!!
DJ Chorlton
Fair comment & I agree to a certain extent, but I still think there will be plenty of 'rough diamonds' on show.
It's good to hear we have scouts there anyway.
I'll say the emphasis is shifting. You just have to look at the top strikers in the Premiership and most of them are African.
I stick to my view I'm afraid. Go back 10 years ago and there were rich pickings at the African Cup, where unknown players would be available for low prices. Now they are superstars already with other clubs, and they have big money agents as well. There are great African players in the Prem, but they were bought from continental clubs at a cost: Drogba, Essien, Muntari actually make my point for me.
timmy, manchester: I agree wholeheartedly with your post. DJ, Chorlton: citing Drogba, Essien & Muntari as Prem players who cost a lot does not in any way deny the point made by timmy and others. Sven was interested in Modeste Mbami and Asamoah Gyan as well as teenage players like the kid from Liberia. There are established stars in France like Pascal Feindouno (attacking mid) and Fodé Mansari (left wing/forward) who could revolutionize our play if he brought them in. The latter two together could be had for 10 million. Maybe the real point is that instead of letting the best young African players go to Ligue Un to develop, we can sign them ourselves, as we increase our presence on the African continent. It should be noted that there is a strong campaign to shift the ANC to a (Euro) summer schedule. This would eliminate the mid-season disruption issue. I do agree with you, DJ, about continuing to mine Eastern Europe as that is another incredible source of talent. We are already active there, however, so no need to worry about that.
Time off?
I wish my boss would give me time off for "mental refreshment". Oh, to be a footballer!
I do understand the principal though....
The Pope, Rome
7/02/2008 at 12:10
The Pope, Rome - does the good lord not believe in holiday requests then?
Yaya Toure and Stephen Appiah are two names I am hoping have impressed Sven enough to warrant a bid in the close season.
Two outstanding players, one a creative midfield player who can score goals from deep, and the other a bruiser in the middle, who breaks oppo attacks up with ease and drives his side forward.
Another I have been impressed with was Mahmaddou Diarra.
Just proves how thorough Sven is,extremely professional man manager who is calmness personified-he shows utmost faith in his players,treats them like men
and is usually rewarded with success on the pitch.Quite simply the best manager since Genial Joe Mercer
Days off?
They've been taking match days off for the last two months!!
How about giving the fans some time off?
I think DJ's right in that the best players are getting snaped up at a much earlier age now and by the time they're representing their full national sides, they're are already established and therefore expensive. I do think though that it's always worth looking because there's always something or someone that pops up. Chelsea have found some Ghanaian called Annan for 1 million for example. Wouldn't buy that Ivorian keeper though; he's bobbins.
Anyway, it's worth having a look but I think the focus should remain on spotting and developing young talent. U21 and schoolboy tournaments should be packed to the rafters with our scouts.
we are crying out for a right winger & one who has really impressed me is the Ivory Coast winger Kader Keita. He looks absolutely awesome, lots of power & pace & takes the full back on.He plays for Lyon in France. It could be that he is playing against inferior defenders in the African Cup because if he plays like that regularly for Lyon in the French League one of the really big clubs in England, Spain or Italy would surely have signed him already. If there are any regular watchers of European football who have seen him play for Lyon I would be interested to know how he performs.
look at youtube, caicedo teammate at Basel, yassine chikhaoui, a tunisian attacking midfielder who scores goals, looks class too. do we need anyone like this???
mark of the jjbluee fame
If you take this article and the interview with Benjani that was originally in the Zimbabwe Herald.
And, I may be reading too much into this. It's a habit I've developed since Sven took over. Benje has now told everyone in Zimbabwe that Pompey don't pay well and City pay better. So, any promising kid in Zimbabwe may be thinking "If I get the choice - I know where I'm going!"
And I doubt we are paying him a fortune. He was probably (of course I am only guessing) on something like 25k a week and City are paying 35k, for example. Either way, it's a good bit of PR for City across Zimbabwe and other English speaking nations in Africa.
It ties in well with City's deal with FC Zulu, where - maybe now - they'll be queuing up to join that club knowing that City are involved. Sven's clever, as we're all aware. I try to read between the lines in everything he says, an intriguing fellah. He's going to take City places. I still reckon there are lots of bargains and 'gems' to had Out Of Africa. And the coming summer is going to be a great one to be a Blue.
Feel it in my water!