Manchester City are, we’re told, the world’s richest football club. They harbor ambitions of winning…well…everything that Manchester United just won in the last 12 months. But where’s the beef? The players that City are buying – or trying to buy – are more UEFA Cup qualifiers than Champions League winners.
Exhibit 1: Craig Bellamy. A ‘mid-table’ player with Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham. A brief stint with Liverpool was unsuccessful (I had forgotten all about it!).
Exhibit 2: Wayne Bridge. An accomplished left-back, but hardly the Roberto Carlos of his generation.
Exhibit 3: Roque Santa Cruz. Another firm bid that has yet to be converted. Santa Cruz had one good season for Blackburn (last year) and one good season for Bayern Munich (which was, unfortunately, spread over the course of calendar 8 years).
Exhibit 4: There is no Exhibit 4. Two firm bids on hold, one left-back in the bag.
If City want to break into the top-4, they’re going to need a different calibre of player than the one they appear to be pursuing. Sure, there are rumours of 100 million pound bids for Kaka, but they are just rumours at this point.
But why not buy Ashley Cole instead of Wayne Bridge? Why not Torres and Rooney instead of Bellamy and Santa Cruz?
One explanation is that City’s owners are content to tread water for the rest of the season and make big changes over the summer. Another is that they have been hit by the credit crunch, or become quickly disillusioned somehow.
What do you think is going on at City?
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Or perhaps nobody wants to sell their best players half way through a season? We can't get Blackburn or WestHam to sell, so what chance do we have of prising players away from the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona?
Stop with the lazy journalism and think please!
Another City hater get a life loser !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just face the facts sooner or later you will be eating your words just like the rest of the rags
Just shows how much you know about football with your comment about Ashley (if i didn't have a left leg i woud fall over) Cole. Stop writing such utter crap. Teams are obviously holding City to ransom, so City hopefully, are now going to say, piss off and now we will go and buy some quality footballers.
Whilst we agree that Bellamy and Parker would not be most peoples choices, I think they would be recruited to scrap it out for the next few months and ensure premiership survival. Kaka, Villa, et al, might not have had that it them on a cold February evening.
It seems just a tad premature to be talking like this 1/3 of the way through the transfer window. If on February 2 it turns out these are the only players they targeted, then maybe take this tone. In the meantime, it's rather presumptuous.
Yawn.
He's right, we won the lottery but still do our weekly shop at Aldi, we need to sack the rag before he takes us down. He's pathetic and can only handle players he can bully.
Ashley Cole has kept Wayne Bridge out of the Chelsea and England team for years, based on the decisions of Mourinho, Scolari, Sven, Don Fabio, etc.
Man City hater?? Really??
Too premature? Fair enough, but now you sound like my wife…
Until last week, Chelsea had the best two English left backs in Britain. It was a matter of opinion as to which you preferred. The consensus is that Cole is the better, but not by much. Chelsea obviously NEEDED to keep him. Wayne Bridge has 33 international caps and is always in the England squad. There's not an available premiership hardened Roberto Carlos on offer anywhere at the moment, and City had an urgent problem at left back.
You know full well that being tagged as 'the richest club in the world' is a jibe aimed at creating instability in a team, (while also intending to denigrate its traditionally friendly image). Of course, this tag has actually had a negative effect on City's ability to buy in the Jan window. This is gris to the mill for all the cynical and unsporting types who now populate the media in great numbers.
You can't run before you can walk, and as you know, a team has to be built. It can't just be bought! Getting some of the players on the so-called 'wish list' is going to almost engender international incidents in some cases. To get Kaka, for instance City are going to have to fight Berlusconi. How easy is that going to be? Walking roughshod over a Prime Minister of Italy while trying to buy a player who has just said that he's looking forward to playing with David Beckham sounds a bit more than an easy game of snakes and ladders to me.
Perhaps City and one or two of the others are beginning to acquire the tools to change the status quo of 'the big four', but it's going to take time. Everything does. And any sensible person knows that. All this stuff about 'the richest club in the world' is media nonsense aimed at stirring up the usual prejudice, aggro and lowest common denominator tabloid reactionaries. It's not real. It's another component of the 'virtual' world.
Back in the real world, City need players who can earn points for the next three months. In the absense of Lionel Messi begging to join a club he's only just heard about, and destroying his ability to become 'world player of the year' this year, Scott Parker, Bellamy and Santa Cruz might just be more suitable for the work in process at City. They're probably also more available.
PS. Very lazy journalism
What a bitch
What a pile of utter crap written by a no-nowt.
Ah, but I certainly sparked City into action, didn't I?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagu...
what a tit you must feel
Didn't they just launch a 100Million attack on Kaka?
http://www.kbsoccernet.com/2009/01/transfer-new...
Let's be honest, City will likely attract another big star or two in the Summer, but whoever expects them to land Kaka or anyone of that caliber (or close to it) in January, I've got a bridge to sell you -honk honk-
your just a prick on legs…………….. come on city
Ashley Cole is unavailable, Phil. You see, someone has to be willing to sell before you can buy, and Chelsea won't be selling as they don't need the money. City aren't here to prove they can spend silly money, they're here to win, and they will, given time.
You have a point as regards the caliber of players bid for, but simply because City need players doesn't mean others will sell. Especially with the EPL as competitive as it is at the top. City are still a few years from being title contenders.
i like it