Manchester City's Transfer Record
Sven Goran Eriksson's Eight Signings at City of Manchester Stadium
New owner of Manchester City, Thaksin Shinawatra, has provided manager Eriksson with finances to buy eight new players, including Elano, Petrov, Geovanni and Bianchi.
Manchester City have had a difficult summer. They sacked their manager, Stuart Pearce, at the end of the season and were involved in lengthy take-over negotiations with former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
New manager- Sven Goran Eriksson
On the completion of the takeover Sven Goran Eriksson was installed as manager but he had missed over a month of the summer transfer window and was in need of a number of players to strengthen a greatly depleted squad, having transferred Joey Barton to Newcastle United for £5.8 million and experienced defender Sylvain Distin to Portsmouth on a free transfer.
However, since being appointed the former England manager has made rapid strides to fill the gaps in his squad. He has signed eight players, all foreigners, and he admitted at a press conference that he had not seen any of them play. He had sought advice from friends and had watched videos of the players.
Following last season’s disappointing performances, the Manchester City team was in need of a complete overhaul and Eriksson has achieved that in a very short space of time with more signings possible in the coming days.
Eight New Players
Eriksson’s first signing was the former Italian Under-21 striker, Rolando Bianchi, from Reginna for £8.8 million. Last season he scored almost twenty goals in Serie A.
Gelson Fernandes is the Swiss Under-21 captain and midfield player. Eriksson described him as ‘the best young player in Switzerland’ when he signed him from FC Sion for an undisclosed fee.
The manager strengthened midfield with the free transfer of the experienced Brazilian, Geovanni, from Cruzeiro. The player, who signed a one year contract, had previous experience in Europe with Barcelona and Benfica before returning home to Brazil.
The experienced Bulgarian international, Martin Petrov was signed from Atletico Madrid for £4.7 million. He had been a long time target of Tottenham Hotspur where his compatriot Dimitar Berbatov was such a success last season. However, doubts about a knee injury prevailed, allowing City to step in.
Three players were signed in one day at the beginning of August. The Brazilian, Elano, came from Shakhtar Donetsk for £8 million. A midfield player, he is an experienced international and helped Brazil win the Copa America this summer. He also scored a hat-trick in a friendly international against Argentina at the Emirates Stadium last season.
Two young defenders were also signed – a left-back, Javier Garndo, from Real Sociedad for £1.5 million and Verdan Corluka from Dinamo Zagreb for £7 million. The Croatia defender, Corluka, will bring versatility to Eriksson’s squad as he is capable of playing at right back and in central defence.
The most recent signing was Valeri Bojinov, the Bulgaria striker. He came from Foirentina for an undisclosed fee, having played for Juventus last season.
Wanted - New Goalkeeper:
After signing eight new players, Eriksson was then hit with a further problem in that his only experienced goalkeeper, Andreas Isaksson, the Swedish international goalkeeper, has a hair-line fracture of his thumb and will miss the start of the season. He is now looking to sign an experienced goalkeeper to cover until Isaksson has recovered.
Leaving City
Further transfer activity is possible at the City of Manchester Stadium as Eriksson seeks to reduce his squad to twenty-three players. Some of last season’s players are under threat and more new players could yet be on their way to the blue half of Manchester as City make the most of the financial package provided by new owner Thaksin Shinawatra.
Eriksson has a tremendous record in club football across Europe. His initial success was in his home land, Sweden, before moving to Italy and then Portugal. He became the England international coach having had a very successful time at Lazio, taking them to the League title. With England he was unable to take them that extra step to experience success at either the World Cup or European Championships. On a number of occasions there was speculation that he may become manager at both Manchester United and Chelsea but for his return to club football he has taken on a demanding task in trying to turn around a Manchester City team that has struggled in recent seasons.
