Petrov capture to herald more signings?

Martin Petrov completed his transfer to City from Atletico Madrid yesterday, but it’s highly unlikely that the Bulgarian left-winger will be the last player to arrive at City before the transfer window closes.

The BBC claim that City are closing in on a £7m deal for Juventus left back Georgio Chiellin, although Juventus chairman Geovanni Gigli has insisted that he has no intention of letting the Italian U21 captain leave the Bianconeri. The BBC also link City with Nery Castillo in the above article, and the Mexican striker looks set to be leaving Olympiakos after rejecting a new contract offer from the Greek club today. Castillo also claims that he is free to leave if Olympiakos are offered €15m (£10m) for his services. There’s some quotes from Castillo and his club on GreekSoccer.com.

Reassuringly, the Manchester Evening News reports that City won’t be making a move for Kieron Dyer. I won’t be losing much sleep over Roque Santa Cruz being on his way to Blackburn, either, considering this is a player who has yet to score more than five goals in a league season. Elsewhere, City are linked with Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia.

City, without Petrov but with Geovanni, play Charleroi in Belgium tomorrow with kickoff at 6pm local time. The reserves are also in action at Morecambe, with kickoff at 3pm.

I’m on holiday for the next two weeks, so there’ll be no updates. Hopefully by the time I return City will be ready to start the new season with Chiellini, Castillo and maybe a few others.

Juve duo “would welcome City move”

The agent of Juventus pair Giorgio Chiellini and Manuele Blasi has revealed that his clients would welcome a move to the Premier League with City, after reports in Italy claimed that City have made bids for the pair. Chiellini supposedly interested Liverpool earlier in the transfer window, and the 22-year-old defender has upset Juve boss Claudio Ranieri with his recent comments concerning his future at the club. Blasi spent last season on loan at Fiorentina and is a central midfielder, but can also play at right back.

The Nery Castillo rumour refuses to go away, with the Mail claiming that City are close to sealing a £10m move for the striker. The Mirror also run the story, but unfortunately they can’t help but fill it full of jibes at City. Bless. The Mirror also claim that Christian Wilhemsson is on the verge of completing his transfer from Werder Bremen to Bolton, but I don’t think anyone should pay much, if any, attention to this report considering Wilhelmsson plays for…Nantes.

Elsewhere, Jim Cassell has been talking about the academy’s role under Sven, and Bernardo Corradi has blamed Stuart Pearce for last season’s woes, and whilst Corradi has had a good pre-season, and what he’s saying is probably true, he’d be better off staying silent until he starts to impress in the league.

City play Charleroi in Belgium on Saturday in the latest pre-season friendly, and the official site has an article on Christian Negouai’s former club. Charleroi finished fifth in Belgium’s top league last season, so they should provide the sternest test of the summer so far.

Noppadon - “City to sign Thai pair”

One thing that became evident during the Frank takeover saga was that anything his laywer, Noppadon Pattama, says should be treated with caution. If I had a pound coin for every time I heard “the takeover will be completed in the next 48 hours”, I’d have enough to buy the club myself. Still, as Frank prepares to delist City from the stock exchange, Noppadon has told reporters that City are going to sign a player from Brazil (which I assume is Geovanni), a player from Italy (Bianchi) and a player from Sweden (probably Wilhelmsson or Elmander).

Noppadon also states that Frank intends to bring two Thai players to COMS. Earlier this month, goalkeeper Kosin Hathairattanakool (anyone fancy getting that on the back of their shirt?) commented on rumours linking him with a move to City. Whilst I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see Thai players moving to City, I doubt things will reach a stage where they are forcing superior players out of the first team or reserves in order to promote City in the Far East. And, you never know, they might be quite good. As I said, though, any quotes from Noppadon shouldn’t be taken too seriously considering his track record.

There’s still no sign of City’s goals against Carlstad on the internet, but Johan at Bluemoon has posted a link to a Swedish news report which covers the game. Whilst there are some interviews with fans and some clips of the game, the goals aren’t shown, for some reason. Still, it’s a good watch, even if the vast majority of it is in Swedish of course. Watch the report by clicking here - the part about City starts at 3:00.

Elsewhere, supposed City target Freddie Ljundberg has joined West Ham for a fee thought to be around £3m. Considering his age - 30 - and Tord Grip’s comments about signing young players earlier this month, I didn’t think there was much truth in the rumour linking him to City in the first place.

The Guardian links City, Spurs and West Ham to Newcastle’s Kieron Dyer today. Again, I can’t see Sven wanting to bring Dyer to City. Whilst he’s a talented player, he’s extremely injury prone and can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble. Elsewhere, the Mirror claims that City are interested in Sevilla’s left-sided centre back Ivica Dragutinovic. I don’t know much about Dragutinovic, apart from what the Mirror report tells us, but one of the reasons that the Dunne and Distin partnership was so successful in recent seasons was that left-footed Distin provided balance on the left-hand side of the pairing.

Bernardo Corradi has told the official site about his new-found confidence after his three goals in the first three friendlies. A few weeks ago it seemed certain that Corradi would be moving on this summer, but all signs at the moment are pointing to him staying. He has also talked up the talents of Rolando Bianchi in the Manchester Evening News and there can be little doubt that the arrival of a fellow countryman has helped brighten his mood. The MEN also reports that Sven is planning to make Carrington training sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays open to the public, which is a nice touch.

Finally, the in-demand LCS parka, as seen being given to Noel Gallagher on Soccer AM a few weeks ago, is now for sale on the official site for the princely sum of £60.

Slow news day

A quiet day as the squad head back home from Sweden. SGE praises the performances of Joe Hart and Kasper Schmeichel in yesterday’s friendly and also reveals that Dunne, Onuoha and Mpenza missed the game due to minor knocks picked up in Wednesday’s win over Orgryte. Paul Dickov has a bruised toe which was sustained during the Orgryte game and Darius Vassell should be back in training before next Saturday’s friendly with Charleroi in Belgium. Talking of Vassell, I was reading a Cardiff City messageboard a couple of days ago and they were discussing the rumour that Dave Jones was interested in taking Vassell to Ninian Park. They didn’t seem to be too welcoming to the idea, though.

In today’s papers, the News of the World claims that Birmingham are attempting to hijack Sven’s supposed move for Yakubu and are willing to pay £10m for his services. The People reports that City are considering a move for Scott Carson.

Elsewhere, the Telegraph carries a story about academies which, somehow, fails to mention the sterling work of Jim Cassell.

So, as you can see, a quiet news day today. Hopefully it’s the calm before the storm, and we’ll be discussing Sven’s next capture before too long.

City brush aside Carlstad

City made it three wins in three pre-season friendlies today with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Carlstad United in the second and last game of the Sweden tour. Rolando Bianchi continued his impressive start to his City career with two goals, and born-again goal machine Bernardo Corradi notched his third goal in as many games. Marc Laird scored the fourth and Kasper Schmeichel was also called into action, saving a second-half penalty. From the comments on the official site, it seems as though Bianchi and Corradi linked up well together, and the signing of another Italian may well bring out the best in Corradi. There’s no sign of the goals on Sky Sports News yet, so I can’t post a YouTube link, but as soon as someone posts them I’ll edit this post.

The reserves also won, with goals from Adam Clayton, David Ball and Ched Evans clinching a 3-1 win over Curzon Ashton.

Meanwhile, the Martin Petrov rumour has surfaced again, with the ever-willing Daily Mirror claiming that the signing of the Atletico Madrid winger is all but completed. However, Petrov played for Atletico in their shock 2-1 defeat to Gloria of Romania in the Intertoto Cup today, which pours cold water on that particular story.

Sky (through L’Equipe) claim than relegated Nantes midfielder Emerse Fae is another name on Sven’s shopping list, although Nice are also interested in his services. Earlier this month, the Ivory Coast international was claimed to be close to sealing a move to Reading.

Gareth Southgate insists there has been no contact from City, or any other club, regarding Yakubu.

Meanwhile, the Manchester Evening News have an article with quotes from Sven regarding the Next Big Thing, Shaleum Logan, following his goalscoring debut against Orgryte on Wednesday. I’ve seen quite a bit of Logan in the past couple of seasons in the reserves and youth teams, and it’s clear he has the potential to command a first-team place in the future, although I don’t think he’s ready for the Premiership just yet. His emergence is all the more impressive considering he broke his leg last season.

Finally today, City’s new team coach has been unveiled. It’s valued at around £300,000 and boasts leather seats, satellite TV, a fridge-freezer and all sorts of other luxuries. Very impressive.

Yak and Castillo linked again

A relatively quiet day in terms of newspaper speculation today, which is probably down to the fact that the media haven’t got a sniff of Sven’s first three signings, so there’s not much point in them trying to guess the rest of them. Of course, that’s not going to stop a newspaper like the Mirror, who run the Yakubu story again, backed up with a quote from a “pal”.

Of course, anything from the Mirror should be taken with a great big mountain of salt, but it’s not as though there’s much else to talk about in the summer months apart from transfer rumours. Yakubu’s Wikipedia page contains the sentence “Manchester City are in the process of buying the player for £12million (about N3 billion)” although it will probably have been deleted by the time you read this. £12m seems more than a little steep, but in this most ridiculous of transfer windows, it’s probably quite accurate. He’s scored 84 goals in 202 Middlesbrough appearances, so he’d be the proven Premiership goalscorer people have been crying out for. He’s also a potent penalty taker, although I don’t think my heart could take the way he walks up to the ball and passes it in.

The above Mirror article also links City with Mexico and Olympiakos’ Copa America star Nery Castillo, and today’s “my reliable source tells me” rumour comes from the Manchester Evening News website, where “why us” claims that Castillo has flown into Manchester for talks, presumably with the City officials who haven’t travelled to Sweden. 23-year-old Castillo has scored 30 goals in 105 games for Olympiakos, and he also scored four goals in the aforementioned South American international competition for Mexico, including the opener in El Tri’s shock 2-0 win over Brazil. (Although he was also guilty of missing an open net in the dying moments of that game.)

Meanwhile, two of City’s alleged “targets” are in the process of completing moves to other clubs. Borussia Dortmund midfielder Steven Pienaar is set to move to Everton on a season-long loan subject to a work permit, and Middlesbrough have agreed a £2.5m fee with Charlton for their full-back Luke Young. I can’t say I’ll be losing too much sleep over City’s “failure” to sign either.

City complete the mini-tour of Sweden with a game against Carlstad United (not Carlsberg United, as I initially thought) tomorrow, with kick-off at 4pm according to the official site, although I think that’s in Swedish time, in which case it’ll be 3pm in England. The reserves play at Unibond Division One outfit Curzon Ashton tomorrow as well, and that definitely kicks off at 3pm.

In virtual football news, Michael Owen has been signed up as the UK face of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, not the Fake Ronaldo as first feared. So my PES 2008 case is safe from the scissors, for now.

Third kit leaked

An image of Emile Mpenza modelling City’s new third kit for 2007/2008 has been leaked onto the internet.

The reaction from the various City messageboards has been extremely positive, and I’m very impressed. Le Coq Sportif weren’t the most popular choice to succeed Reebok as kit manufacturers, but their designs this season have been very smart.

As the image implies, the third kit will go on sale in limited numbers, much like the infamous yellow shirt of the past two seasons, and I suspect demand for it will be very high indeed.

Örgryte 1 City 4

Pre-season friendly

Örgryte IS 1 (Mwila 37)
City 4 (Bianchi 18; Corradi 52; Samaras 61; Logan 64)

YouTube highlights 

City won their second pre-season friendly of the summer with a comfortable win over Örgryte in Sweden.

I didn’t see the game, as I was at the reserves’ friendly with Hyde, but reports from those who did catch it were positive with youngster Shaleum Logan coming in for particular praise.

City opened the scoring on 18 minutes after good work from the midfield had found Logan on the byline, and his cross was tapped home by debutant Rolando Bianchi who was in the right place at the right time. However, City were pegged back before the interval as Boyd Mwila smashed a shot into the top left hand corner on 37 minutes.

Corradi bundled in from close range on 52 minutes after Logan’s shot had hit the post, and Georgios Samaras scored a confidence-boosting goal nine minutes later when he nodded home Vassell’s cross from the left wing. Logan wrapped up the scoring when he slipped the ball past the keeper from the right hand side of the box.

City play Carlstad United in the second and final game of the Sweden tour on Saturday.

Team: Isaksson, Richards, Dunne, Onuoha, Ball, Logan, Fernandes, Johnson, Ireland, Mpenza, Bianchi.

Subs: M. Mills (Dunne, 66), D. Mills (Onuoha, 56), Laird (Ball, 79), Miller (Logan, 66), Dabo (Fernandes, 66), Hamann (Johnson, 56), Vassell (Ireland, 56), Dickov (Vassell, 69), Corradi (Mpenza, ht), Samaras (Bianchi, 56)

Hyde 4 City reserves 2

Kenny Jackett’s City reserves were beaten 4-2 by Hyde United at Ewan Fields in their second pre-season friendly of the summer.

City - who didn’t field a player over the age of 18 - raced into a two-goal lead inside the first eight minutes thanks to a 30-yard strike from Karl Moore and a far-post finish from Adam Clayton, but the Hyde players’ greater physical strength and experience told as they fought back, with former Bury striker Gareth Seddon scoring a hat-trick and Dale Johnson notching the other goal.

The reserves complete their pre-season programme with trips to Curzon Ashton this Saturday (21st) and newly-promoted League Two side Morecambe seven days later.

Team

Mentel, Obeng, Mee, McDonald, Breen, Daly, Clayton, Moore, Evans, Marshall, Vidal.

Subs: McGivern, Kay, McDermott, Ball, Poole, Mouritsen.

City swoop for first Brazilian

Sven-Goran Eriksson has made former Barcelona and Brazil attacking midfielder Geovanni his third signing in a week, days after the Brazilian starred for Portsmouth as a trialist in their 2-0 friendly win at Yeovil.

Geovanni, who arrives on a free transfer with a one-year deal, is the first Brazilian player in the history of City, and from reading a number of Portsmouth message boards, it seems as though they are quite disappointed that Eriksson has pinched him from under Harry Redknapp’s nose - Redknapp’s comments after the Yeovil game suggest that he was looking to tie Geovanni down to a longer deal. But, as with City’s other two signings so far this summer, Eriksson has swooped without the media getting wind of his intentions.

Highlights of Portsmouth’s win over Yeovil and Redknapp’s post-match comments