With all of the attention focused on Manchester City’s latest acquisition, defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong — signed from Hamburger SV for a fee believed to be around £18 million — spare a thought for the latest forgotten man at Eastlands, Dietmar Hamann.

Just as left back Wayne Bridge pushed Javier Garrido and Michael Ball to the bench, while the arrival of Craig Bellamy means that forwards Daniel Sturridge and Felipe Caicedo will get very little playing time, the signing of Dutch international de Jong is bad news for Hamann. Sure, Hamann is injured and is likely to be out for three months. But even if he was fit, it’s doubtful the German midfielder would play much of a part in the second half of the 2008/2009 season.

At 35, it’s probable that this season will Hamann’s last in England and top flight football. His contract is due to expire at the end of this season.

Hamann’s career in England began in 1998 when Newcastle manager Kenny Dalglish signed the German international from Bayern Munich for £5.5 million. At Newcastle, Hamann made 23 appearances before signing for Liverpool in 1999 for a transfer fee of £8 million.

It was at Liverpool where Hamann came to prominence playing 191 times for the Merseyside club over a seven year period. While at Liverpool, Hamann scored the last goal at the old Wembley Stadium when Germany beat England 1-0 on October 7, 2000. And he played a key role in one of the greatest football matches ever — Liverpool’s historic Champions League victory against AC Milan in 2005.

In 2006, Hamann joined Manchester City where he has made 54 appearances for the club.

Unfortunately, Hamann has failed to make much of an impression lately under the management of Mark Hughes. In November, Hamann was one of two players who refused to warm up in the 2-2 draw against Hull City. After ignoring to come on as a substitute, Hamann was demoted to play in a reserves match a few days later.

In the 2008/2009 season, Hamann has only had five league appearances for City. In his last game for the Citizens, Hamann came on as a substitute in the January 3rd loss against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup. Hamann’s last contribution was a poor one when his throw-in went straight into the City defence and to the feet of Forest player Joe Garner who scored past Joe Hart to make the final result 3-0 to Forest.

De Jong will bring a much needed boost to Manchester City’s defensive frailities. In Euro 2008, de Jong partnered with Dutch midfielder Orlando Engelaar. The duo were particularly effective during Holland’s shock 3-0 win against Italy.

The Forgotten Men is a new series from EPL Talk which shines a light on the players who are often overlooked and forgotten about when so much of the media focus is on a club’s big new signing. Follow ‘The Forgotten Men‘ series today.

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3. Kaka to Manchester City Heats Up

After plenty of speculation, it’s finally happened. Just hours after AC Milan said that Kaka wasn’t for sale, the newswires went crazy over the fact Manchester City has indeed opened talks to purchase the star player, and the figures are simply staggering. The 100 million euro purchase price, yes it’s there. Kaka’s salary, well enough to make everyone in football blush. That number, two hundred eighty thousand pounds a week.

I’ve been waiting for this moment the second Robinho was purchased under the wire back in early September. This was the type of transfer we were promised, and now it looks like they are going after fulfilling that obligation. While it’s hard for me, or anyone for that fact, to put their head around that amount of money,  I think this signal of intent gives us all one big message; get ready, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Just like what happened after Roman starting splashing the cash after buying Chelsea, Manchester City are looking to raise the stakes in the transfer market. With the economy the way it is today, even teams of worldwide regard would have a difficult time saying no to having 100 million euros in their back pocket. How many different players could they buy with that money? How much of their debt could they help clear up with that money? These are all questions that clubs have to start looking at more closely.

From all I can gather, it’s up to AC Milan to say no. Kaka isn’t a fool and would sign up for that kinda cash. The only thing I think stopping AC Milan saying no to this move, is their thinking about the Pandora’s box this would open up.

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The injury list starts to grow ahead of this weekend’s matches. Dietmar Hamann will be out for 3 months with a ruptured ligament in his toe (umm wow that’s a long time to be out for a toe ligament). And on the same day Patrice Evra dedicated Manchester United’s win over Chelsea to the FA, we find out he’ll be out three weeks with a foot injury. Rio Ferdinand will more than likely be out another week due to his back.

Speaking of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson just needs to let this one go. Who cares that there was an Arsenal fan on the panel looking over the Patrice Evra case.

I wonder how much Jose Mourinho loved seeing Chelsea’s performance after his damning verdict of them Tuesday.

I don’t know if Carlos Tevez should be taking career advice from Diego Maradona. He thinks it would be wise for Tevez to get away from Manchester United.

Rafa is denying reports that he and the ownership is again at odds, this time over signing a new contract.  He’s saying the final details are being worked out.

The police are to be commended after finding 11 classless morons who were busted for the racial chants towards Sol Campbell earlier in the year. I hope they never see the inside of a football ground again. What’s even sadder is the age of some of these people.

Related posts:

1. Manchester City Raise Kaka Bid To £243 Million
2. Poll: Is Kaka Going to Manchester City?
3. Manchester City Left Broken Hearted By Kaka