As Roberto Mancini declared himself sick of waiting for Alexis Sanchez, Emmanuel Adebayor was ruling himself out of moves to Paris Saint Germain and Blackburn.
One player won’t come to City, another is proving hard to shift. It sums up a frustrating start to the summer at Eastlands. But it is, perhaps, a signal of the increasingly tough approach the club are taking in the transfer market.
Mancini, though, is still impatient for progress. In five glorious days in mid-May, the Blues secured a Champions League spot and then ended their long, long wait for a trophy by lifting the FA Cup.
Then it got even better, as Mancini’s men pounced on Arsenal’s late-season stumbles to claim third place in the Premier League, avoiding a tricky Champions League play-off and passing straight into the lucrative group stages.
The hope was that this would ease City’s passage as they looked to strengthen their squad. As the theory went, top-name players who couldn’t be tempted to Eastlands when the club could offer nothing more than Europa League football would now be more amenable to talking.
Mancini almost acknowledged as much himself, a couple of days before the end of the season, when he declared that he wanted the bulk of transfer business completed before the start of pre-season training. “That is imperative, because pre-season is really important,” he said at the time. “I think that we had some problems this year because we didn’t do a full pre-season with all the players.
“We had players arriving back from the World Cup five days before the start of the Premier League season.
Struggles
“Having all of the players in by July 5 or 6, when we start pre-season, will be very important.”
Pre-season training starts for the Blues at Carrington next week. And ,while the club have worked extraordinarily hard to get in the players they want, progress has been difficult – arguably even more difficult than it was 12 months ago.
City had their transfer struggles then, too. There were the stops and starts of Mario Balotelli’s drawn-out move from Inter Milan – finally completed two days before the start of the season.
And there was the saga of James Milner’s switch from Aston Villa, which dragged on in public for three months as City tried to agree a transfer fee and exasperated the midfielder so much that, at one stage, he threatened to pull out of the deal if it wasn’t sorted quickly.
But last summer, the Blues had managed to make significant moves in the market by the end of June. Jerome Boateng’s arrival from Hamburg was confirmed on June 5, five days before the World Cup started, while David Silva’s move from Valencia was effectively tied up by the end of the month.
This year, Sanchez was the No 1 target. But while Udinese are keen to do a deal with City, the Chilean winger isn’t, instead stating a preference for Barcelona.
Another City target, Brazilian wonderkid Neymar, also looks more likely to end up in Spain, with Barca and Real Madrid looking to sign him.
Mancini is looking to strengthen in defence as well as attack, and has made moves to bring in 20-year-old Montenegro international centre-back Stefan Savic from Partizan Belgrade, who is valued at around £7m.
Contenders
So far this summer, though, no new arrivals have been confirmed. In part, that is because City do not need to strengthen as much as in recent summers, which saw chunks of Sheikh Mansour’s fortune spent on transforming a mid-table
Premier League side into Champions League contenders.
That, coupled with a need to cut spending to meet UEFA’s incoming financial fair play guidelines – designed to stop clubs splashing out money they haven’t earned – has seen City chief executive Garry Cook and football operations officer Brian Marwood take a much tougher stance in the transfer market.
In the past, the Blues have undoubtedly paid over the odds to get players. This summer, they are not playing that game. A refusal to pay inflated prices was a factor in halting a deal for Bolton centre-back Gary Cahill, now destined instead for a £17m move to Arsenal. But as far as the club are concerned, the message has to be clear:
City may be rich, but they’re no soft touches.
That hardline stance is also being taken with regard to the shifting out of players, which will come under the watch of new football operations department arrival John Williams, the former Blackburn chairman.
Twelve months ago, City’s bloated squad was threatening to become an embarrassment. A little over two weeks before the start of last season, the Blues had 33 senior players to fit into a 25-man Premier League squad.
In the end, a host of fringe players were shipped out in August and January, including several on loan. In the case of some of those loanees, such as Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge and Roque Santa Cruz, City agreed to continue paying a significant part of their salaries just to get a deal done.
Such arrangements are off the menu for the Blues now as they attempt to become leaner and meaner.
Some fringe players – such as Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips – are helping things along by indicating they are ready to take a big pay cut to make a move happen.
But even then, finding the right club is not proving easy.
And so there is every chance that Adebayor, Bellamy Wright-Phillips, Santa Cruz and Bridge will be re-united at pre-season training next week.
Mancini can only hope that July proves a more fruitful month than June.
What do you think? Have your say.
Comments
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No wonder at the prices being asked for players when a player not tested in European football commands starting bids at 40 million then frustration is understandable. I think fate will play a huge role in getting the players needed, I mean what will be will be and nothing can change fate.
If Adebayor or any other player we want to get rid of wants to dig their heels in and dictate who they will or won't play for or refuse a pay cut to move then exclude them from the 25 man squad and let them rot until January. See if that clears their minds a bit.
The transfer window doesn't start officially till tomorrow for deals between European clubs so it could be a busy weekend. Watch this space.
Depressing
I AM HAPPY WE ARE NOT BEING HELD TO RANSOM BY AGENTS, CLUS, OR PLAYERS. WE NEED JUST ONE OR TWO QUALITY PLAYERS, THIS MUST BE DONE WISELY. ARSENAL ARE IN DIRE STRAITS, YET THE PRESS BULL THEM UP WHILST WE ARE PERCIEVED TO BE STRUGGLING TO ATTACT PLAYERS. THEY WILL COME. ON THE SUBJECT OF BLOATED SQUAD, WE ENDED UP NOT MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS OF 25 PLAYERS, INDEED FILLED UP WITH PLAYERS WHO WOULD NOT IN FACT PLAY. WE ARE NO LONGER AT THE CROSSROADS, WE ARE FIRMLY ON THE ROAD TO GREATER SUCCESS
i think the players have all ready been bought , and City are playing with the media, remember the spurs game at eastlands old Harry reckoned city had all ready made signings then.
If I was a multi-M do you think I would shop @ Woolworths or Harrods? exactly. Give Roberto who He wants & get rid of the dead wood. If they don't want to go to this club or that club & so on, just tell them they will not be in the squad @ all come August. That would mean no football what so ever & we can tell them if they want to stay fit 'do it by yourself'.
Well, part of the pattern is Spanish (or other Latin languages) speaking players preferring Spain. This is understandable quite apart from the language. In Spain you don't get to play against Stoke. Most of the players moving now are second rung like the ones going to United. The top flight transfar market is jammed until Fabregas and Sanchez move.
Interesting comments on a daily basis from fans who don't want mercinaries coming to the club. Unfortunately the reason City are stuck on transfer's is the number of cash crazy players already there that cannot be offloaded.
Step forward Gary Cook and explain.
It is clear to me that we will sell our unwanted players to Blackburn as a job lot, with the rest going to Everton as swapsies for Leighton Baines.
Adebayor says he wants to a)be at a club in the champions league b) at a club where he has a chance of winning a trophy cos he enjoyed winning the cup with Madrid errrrrrrrm if he'd stayed where he was he would have won a trophy and got in the Champions League.
Mancini please tell Adebayor to shape up, work on his stamina and using his incredible pace for a big man more often and be ready as 4th choice striker to take his chance when it comes. If he won't do it then let him rot like a corpse in a gibbet as a warning to other prima-donnas who want to take city's cash but not the responsibility of giving their all to be a fantastic squad member.
As far as Sanchez goes, wishing him all the best at Barcelona is the best way to stick two fingers up at the greedy Udinese Chairman.
As far as signing players from the Italian league and Brazillian starlets Maximum Caution not Maximum Cash should be the modus operandi. I don't want us to sign any more morale sapping babies whose antics and flapping gobs do a great diservice to the genuine legends like Kompany that we now have playing.
I'll let Tevez off only because he is such a good player and he leaves the silly stuff away from the football pitch where he puts in a double shift every time.
tell us somthing we dont already know!!!
If you think your tacky little club is getting its grubby souless paws on Leighton baines.....Dream on.....David moyes will never entertain the idea of taking on your overpaid rejects...There is a reason why they are at your club and thats because they are mercanery...A mentality Everton football club and David Moyes do not want or need.
Let the Brazilians go to Spain. How many Brazilians have been succesful in the premier league? I can only think of 1 and he had only relative success...Gilberto Silva.
All other Brazilians have been flops and that includes Elano who had 6 good games before he was sussed out.
I agree that standing your ground and not wanting to pay over the odds is a good thing, but it doesn't always work. I tried to stand firm and offer a slightly reduced amount for my new Season Card, last month, but was thwarted when City took the whole £595 anyway!
In a season where we really need to hit the ground running, would it not be better to concentrate on signing players with Premier League experience. Given the prices we are being quoted for untested foreigners surely the likes of Moderic, Bale, Baines, Clichy, Nasri or Nzogbia are feasible, but i do admit if were in for another striker please Bobby, Sergio Aguero, he would be a sensation with Tevez.
Too many players on easy street, forget the tough talk if they won’t go we either pay up their contracts or just take it on the chin.
I also don’t see the point in bringing in yet more players unproven in the English game especially South Americans who tend to get home sick when it starts raining.
i dont think this is that much of an issue yet, no-one is making any major signings yet, Utd have signed three players who frankyl you wouldnt entertian at City, no big names though. All it take sis for one big one to move and the merry go round will kick in.
I agree we must move quickly, but lets not be overly-hasty! We could end up buying someone like Jones or Young! Oh, wait a minute....
It is a little frustrating that the first signing still hasn't happened but there's still plenty of time for the squad situation as regards comings and goings to sort itself out. We should keep our cool and focus on the fact that we already have an established trophy winning side intact who will be more together as a unit at the start of next season than they were at the start of last and it could be the difference in the performances at the start of last season and the start of next that help push us up into top spot come next may.
We should certainly not panic buy and start wafting huge contracts under the noses of second rate players. Softly softly catchy monkey.
I will tell you what I am frustrated with!.....The MUEN inventing stories about City being frustrated!!!!
you've got to hand it to mancini, we forget before the start of last season on the number of late arrivals and the 'bloated' squad. to trim that down to 25, having players missing pre season etc, the media putting him under constant pressure, the uefa cup and to deliver a trophy and 3rd place.
i love him!!
This was always going to be the flaw in the City 'project'. Overpaying in terms of fees and, more importantly, wages has left selling clubs demanding massive fees from City for new players and means current players who are no longer wanted don't move because they don't want to take a massive cut in wages. Why would they? They mainly joined City for the high salaries in the first place. Les a catch-22 more a catch-£22m.
But this is what happens when you try to run before you can walk...
I'm not too disappointed. I think we have the players we need (possibly a better left back would be nice) and we need to concentrate n bedding them down into a team. Clearly we need to shift some dead wood and probably the transfer budget should be allocated to that.
As others have said - I don't want anyone to be at the club who would prefer to be somewhere else. If we make someone an offer and they have to umm and ahh about it, well that's enough of an answer for me and we should move on.
You made the mess you are in.
Desperate to end the 35 years. Ok, fair enough. You manged after spending A LOT!
But to continue the ride you need to progress. I can't see that happen. Real footballers want to go to clubs with a history of winning.
Adopting a policy of; "here's our offer, take it or leave it" sounds like a better tactic than brow beating clubs and players with bid after bid.
So far Mr Mancini has drawn a blank with the one reported approach, that's been confirmed by club sources....... hardly as frustrating as the heading would suggest!
While certain areas of the squad need reinforcing, everyone seems to have forgotten how well the team was gelling in the later part of last season.
Keeping that balance and team ethic, has to be the priority!