Manchester City continue to be linked heavily with several players from the continent including most heavily with Racing Santander striker Nikola Zigic a Serbian striker. According to reports in today’s Daily Mirror Manchester City are at the front of the queue to snap up the 2 metre tall striker as Sven Goran Eriksson looks to overhaul the City attack following the signing of Rolando Bianchi for £8.8 million from Italian side Reginna. This morning Santander president Francisco Pernia confirmed that Manchester City have come the closest to meeting the valuation of the Spanish side.
Although Zigic favours a move to England there is also credible interest from Italy with Juventus and Fiorentina rumoured to be amongst the front runners to snap up the player. Fiorentina in particular offered £15 million for the player as they look to find a replacement for the departed Luca Toni who left earlier this summer for the Bundesliga. Domestically Villarreal also noted their interest in the player as they look to find a substitute to fill the gap left by Diego Forlan after he left for Atletico Madrid.
This morning the agent of Zigic, Milan Calasan was quoted as saying: “There is interest from Manchester City and we will see what happens. Manchester City are an interesting club and Mr Eriksson is a very good coach”. However, the Premier league side may face some competition both from West Ham who had an offer accepted for the player last season and are still known to be looking for replacements up front. Zigic turned the move down opting to remain in La Liga but was later quoted as saying that not going to London is one of his biggest regrets.
Zigic is a tall target man and he is excellent in the air, as one may well imagine, and were he to join the Premiership he would certainly rival Peter Crouch for the honour of being the tallest player in the league. He is also an excellent finisher; 8 goals in 20 caps for Serbia as well as an excellent season for Racing where he formed a wonderful relationship with the diminutive Pedro Munitis taking the modest Spanish side to the verge of Europe bear testimony to that. The two caused difficulty for nearly every La Liga defence forming in some people’s opinion the best partnership in the league and evoking recent memories of a similar partnership between Nihat and Darko Kovacevic which took Real Sociedad to the Champions League courtesy of a 2nd place finish that season.
Manchester City have also been credited with an interest in Serb left back Ivica Dragutinovic who currently plays in Spain for Sevilla although they may face some competition for his signature from Portsmouth and Newcastle who are both also looking for reinforcements in that area. Dragutinovic is not considered as the first choice left back at Sevilla, nevertheless he racked up several appearances mainly in the UEFA Cup, which Sevilla have won in the last two seasons.
The 31 year old may be tempted to a move to Manchester where his national team colleague Nemanja Vidic has been playing for City’s cross-town rivals United. Any club wishing to sign the former Standard Liege and Gent player may have to fork out up to £8 million pounds though for the left back, which may put off any prospective suitor given the relative age of the player although reports suggest that City have bid no more than ?3 million (approximately £2 million) for his services. One problem that won’t be an issue is the work permit as Dragutinovic as a result of his time spent in Belgium holds a Belgian passport as well as a Serb one. Whether the link that has emerged between City and Dragutinovic is a spurious one, as his agent tries to drum up his asking price is open to debate especially since City have been heavily linked with a move for the younger and better defensively Giorgio Chiellini.
Finally Manchester have according to French reports beaten off interest from a host of European clubs including Reading, Dynamo Kiev, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Monaco to snap up Ivory Coast midfielder Emerse Fae from recently relegated Nantes. Fae, who started his career at Nantes on the Atlantic coast in France, has been heavily linked with a move away from the club known as the Canaries after their relegation was confirmed. Reports in France suggest that Manchester City have signed the player on a 4 year contract and the fee agreed between the two clubs is approx £2.75 million. Fae after playing for the French U-21 and U-17 teams, helping the French win the World U-17 Championship in 2001 took advantage of the FIFA ruling in 2005 that allowed players to represent another country so long as they hadn’t played for the first country at full international level and switched to the Ivory Coast, the country of his parent’s birth. He played a prominent role for the ‘Elephants’ in last summers World Cup and will probably be called up for the forthcoming African Cup if Nations in the Winter. Fae has been earmarked to fill the role left by Joey Barton after his departure in the summer to Newcastle United. City were also credited with an interest in Manuele Blasi, which was also reported recently here, but the arrival of Fae may bring an end to the interest in the Juventus midfielder as both players are similar types.
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