Blues set to miss out on Van Buyten

May 25, 2004

CLOSE TO SEALING MOVE: Daniel van Buyten

Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan is on the brink of missing out on his number one summer transfer target.

Keegan has claimed that if he could sign any player in the world this summer it would be Daniel van Buyten, who impressed during six games in City colours until his loan move from Marseille was ended prematurely when he picked up a knee injury.

However, the cash-strapped Blues boss knew his chances of signing the '3million-rated Belgian international on a permanent basis would be severely hampered by his lack of transfer funds and, as he feared, van Buyten is now set to move elsewhere.

FC Hamburg coach Klaus Toppmoller has confirmed talks with van Buyten are at an advanced stage and representatives from the Bundesliga outfit are due to talk with their Marseille counterparts tomorrow to finalise the deal.

Top star

"Daniel is an absolute top star and he speaks German," Toppmoller told www.skysports.com

"I could imagine that he could become our new captain."

The loss of van Buyten will be a blow to Keegan, especially as the player himself had recently expressed a desire to join City if at all possible.

Gutted that City may miss out? Have your say

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David Vickers, Preston (25/05/2004 at 09:42)

Several years ago City had the chance to sign John Hartson but baulked at the price of B#5M and then got relegated...hope this does not have the same outcome surely we can raise B#1M or so and pay in installments...debt is one thing but rlegation and debt are worse surely!

Bill, manchester (25/05/2004 at 09:45)

Gutted, Keegan is to blame, the board supported him with money which he spent poorly, lets home he does not spit his dummy out. Not to sure what sort of defender we are going to get on a Bosman?

Dave the Blue, Leigh (25/05/2004 at 09:48)

We must be really skint if we can't sign a player who has already shown he can massively improve our team. We are obviously not a club that goes in for long term planning. Last season it was spend spend spend. And now we've nothing. It looks like bad management to me.We can't be far off calling the baliffs in now.

chris, Davyhulme (25/05/2004 at 09:48)

Poor. B#3m surely could have been found, any other new players to come in for free.

JamCity, Stuck in bolton (25/05/2004 at 09:53)

This doesnt look good considering we could've attempted a swap deal with Sommeil going to marseille. If we cant get Van Buyten, we need a defender with a similar style. We should also get Lizarazu on a free as we are now exposed at left back

Jawaid Latief, Old trafford Manchester (25/05/2004 at 09:55)

I think the board can at least come up with the money to buy a quality player like DVB,as everyone knows.We should be able to offload some players when the transfer market becomes active.But long term DVB will be good investment and he can certainly become the captain (leader) of the side who we had been missing last season.Hurry up board why let this Gem out of our hand when DVB himself is keen to play for us.

nick, manchester (25/05/2004 at 09:55)

This is an absolute disgrace! Clearly the player wants to stay and it's obvious that we need him desperately or we will face another dismal season at the back. Are you telling me the club can't find B#3m to save us from relegation next season? I believe he makes that much difference. Its an absolute bargain. Does anyone out there agree with me or am i being stupid? If i had the money i would buy him myself so i don't have to witness another season of pathetic defending.

Ernie, York (25/05/2004 at 09:58)

If last season is anything to go by, it could be the difference between staying up or going down. So why hasn't the board raised the cash and signed him already...

Martin, Manchester (25/05/2004 at 09:59)

That B#3M saved by not sigining DVB will seems very expensive when you lose B#30M in revenue if you get relegated. Considering we lost the lead more times than anyone else in the league (14 in total) I think DVB would have guaranteed at least 10 points a season - and at B#0.5M per position doesn't it make sense to buy him ?

Matt, Chester (25/05/2004 at 10:02)

With DVB in the side we didn't look like conceding. An absolute disgrace we didn't snap him up when we had the chance. The board could have found 3 million if they were pushed. Oh well, relegation dogfight it is then!!!!

a blue neville, brighouse west yorks (25/05/2004 at 10:04)

The implication was that a whole host of top clubs would be lining up to sign van Buyten. Hamburg scarcely come into that category having barely avoided relegaton themselves. Marseilles also don't seem to be too bothered about losing him. I have said it before, there is something that doesn't quite stack up about the whole affair.

Dave the Blue, Leigh (25/05/2004 at 10:05)

I blame Keegan for most of it. But it is the board that backs him and it looks to me like they overspent last year. That isnt KKs fault.

Harry H, SK (25/05/2004 at 10:08)

I keep seeing Blue OXO cubes,can anyone explain why ? If this wasn,t such a disgrace I,d LMFAO!

blue62, stockport (25/05/2004 at 10:09)

I would like to know why the shareholders are not prepared to make money available to take this club forward. Apart from Wardle & Makin I have not heard of anyone else putting money in to the club. After all, we are one of the biggest supported clubs in the country.

Blue Mood, Sale (25/05/2004 at 10:16)

That is a big blow I have to say. I couldn't even give an alternative solution. It's frustrating to have the power of hindsight and look back at wasted money (Fowler, Vuoso, Fowler, Negoui, Fowler and Macca I'm looking your way!), but there's nowt we can do about it. We've just got to man the trenches and prepare for battle. Hopefully a mid table battle!! Good point by someone else about Lizerazu though, he'd be nice on a free + Macca's wages (i.e. INSTEAD of Macca).

Optimist, Cloud Cukoo Land (25/05/2004 at 10:17)

Perhaps City have got a surprise up their sleeve for us and will announce they've landed a gem of a defender on a Bosman!

Blue Dave, Denton (25/05/2004 at 10:19)

It seems to me that City really do need a commercial manager to overhaul the club and make it into a money making machine. B#3million to a "big" club with the third highest gates should not be a lot of money it just shows the ineptitude they have at running the club. A classic example is at half time. There is a captive audience waiting to fed and watered - but it does n't work because there are not enough bar staff and there is no queuing system. City need to look at how other "venues" do it - e.g. Disney etc who can feed and water people in their thousands. In addition, what exactly does Tueart do for his B#100k salary? Why do Bolton get a B#10million shirt deal and we get B#2million? There are fundamental ways of running a succesful business and it seems to me that no one at City knows how to do it. When are Reebok going to get their name plastered all over the seats and how much are they going to pay for it? We are the fourth biggest shirt seller in the Premiership yet our shirt sponsorship is peanuts compared to others. Wardle - appoint a businessman to run the club so that it can generate more money because no matter what you cannot wait for a billionaire to come along.

Cheadle blue, At work! (25/05/2004 at 10:24)

Farce, short sighted, mis-spent funds are just a few words/phrases that come to mind. We deserve better, the club released our new shirt early and most of us have coughed out B#80 already on our strip for last season. Come on Wardle find the blinkin cash to give us some hope for next season.

T. Henriksen, Oslo (25/05/2004 at 10:27)

He's the best player we have seen at this club for many years. I cannot belive KK or the bord aren't doing all they can to sign him.
. It's just sad. All hope of a good season is gone if we can't sign DVB.

citymatt, blue moon (25/05/2004 at 10:28)

yet another example of the poor financial management and transfer policy that saw us drop from 9th to 5th from bottom. van buyten is class and cheap at B#3m - how much more rope does kk need to hang himself.

Ben, Whitefield (25/05/2004 at 10:32)

WE ARE DOOMED....if it was a striker we would have got him by now...surely we have 3million somewhere , if hes the only player we buy this season we must get him..we are doomed without him

The Pope, Rome (25/05/2004 at 10:35)

Oh no!

Vince Gibson, Glossop (25/05/2004 at 10:35)

I'm very disappointed to hear this news. Daniel van Buyton showed enough in the few games he played for City to leave me in no doubt about his quality.I can only summise that the much mooted move of Joey Barton to Liverpool was halted with the sacking of Houlier, and consequently took away our only chance of securing the necessary funding for the purchase of DvB.I feel that it's particularly frustrating when I think of the money that has been wasted in the last couple of years (Negouie-B#1.5m;Vuoso-B#3m+;Sommeil-B#2.5m), which would now give us enough to genuinely strengthen the team.

Katie, London (25/05/2004 at 10:38)

Come on City board. We know money is tight but there can't be anyone who can't see what DVB would add to the team. If he was the only signing all summer, most of us would be happy. Get the deal done before it's too late.

MarkfmManc, Town (25/05/2004 at 10:39)

Again, we have sold 30000+ season tickets already and the board cannot release 3Million required to snap up this quality defender, we desperately need DVB, it is plain for all the loyal fans to see, now lets see the board be loyal and spent 3M, if we get nobody else in that will do but we need DVB to be wearing the beloved BLUE. If we can get DVB now then concentrate on raising 3Million later in the Transfer Window, but we cannot miss out on a opportunity like this. Surely aswell the players released, Tiatto, Wiekens and Tarnet, there wages for a year would amount to aleast 2 Million, give Kev the choice, only bring in DVB and no-one else to the squad unleast he releases other players ie Transfers them.

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