The Sv-end of an Era

With the announcement that Javier Garrido is to join Lazio — ironically as a replacement for recent signing, Aleksandar Kolarov — the last of the eight players brought in by Sven Goran Eriksson in the 2007-08 pre-season will leave the club.

They were certainly interesting times, as the club narrowly avoided relegation the season before, and had already lost two of our better players in Joey Barton and Sylvain Distin. Before the takeover, the signs of us staying alive as a club, let alone staying in the Premier League, weren't great.

Whilst the magnitude of spending is nowhere near that of today, it was still exciting to see so many players brought into the club, even more so by the fact that most of them were unknown to the Premier League.

Garrido was the sixth player signed that window, joining the club from Real Sociedad for the knock-down fee of £1.5million. He was Sven's first-choice left back for the opening stanza, however he eventually lost his place to Michael Ball on the back of some woeful defending in a 6-0 loss to Chelsea. He scored two goals for the club, both of which came from free kicks — against Liverpool in 2008-09 and against Wolves last season.

It has been suggested that Javier was instrumental in attracting David Silva to the club, and if that is true, he was well worth the transfer fee for that alone!

Despite his limited appearances, he was nothing but a model professional, who never moaned or threw the toys out the pram when on the bench. And when he did get his chance, he took it with both hands.

A good squad player, but with Kolarov, Bridge, Lescott, Barry, and Cunningham, left-back is a place where we have a few options. I genuinely wish Javier all the best for the future.

Sven's Class of 2007
Rolando Bianchi
Sven's first signing, Bianchi joined for £8.8m from Regina. Despite scoring the team's first goal in the season opener at Upton Park, he never really took to the English game. Was loaned out to Lazio in January, and had the indignity of being sent-off five minutes into his debut. Bianchi and his neck scarf was last season playing for Torino in Italy's Serie B.

Gelson Fernandes
Didn't get many games under Sven, and less so under Hughes, where the aging Dietmar Hamann was preferred in defensive midfield. Will forever be known for scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Spain at the 2010 World Cup.

Geovanni
Geo signed as a free-agent, just days after scoring in a preseason friendly for Portsmouth. Best known for the long range effort in the 1-0 win over the Rags. However, there was always a question mark over his commitment in training, and that relegated hm to the fringes of the squad. Subsequently moved to Hull City, where he bagged their first ever Premier League goal.

Martin Petrov
One of the 2007-08 season's best players, Petrov was scintillating down left flank for the Blues. Scored the only goal in City's 1-0 win over Barcelona in a 2008-09 friendly. Between the arrival of Robinho and niggling knee injuries, Petrov struggled to secure constant game time under Mark Hughes. Moved to Bolton on a free transfer this off-season.

Vedran Corluka
Vedran, along with Garrido and Elano, was part of the famous triple-unveiling. Despite his languid style, "Charlie" was quite comfortable on the ball, and was one of the most consistent performers that season. Soon moved to Tottenham in the hours before the Abu Dhabi takeover, not before scoring a key penalty in the UEFA Cup qualifier against FC Midtjylland.

Elano
Set the Premier League alight in the first few months of the season, including that free-kick against Newcastle. However, as the weather blew colder, so did his performances. He was the player who clashed most with Mark Hughes, and as a result, was moved on at the end of the 2008-09 season — despite City having insufficient cover in the playmaker role.

Valeri Bojinov
Was injured just five minutes in to the aforementioned 2007-08 derby, and failed to return that season. Suffered an Achilles injury in warm-up in the 2008-09 seasoon opener at Aston Villa. Accrued less than an hour's game time in the two years he was at the club.

Mark Hughes Unveiled as Fulham Manager

Our previous manager, Mark Hughes, has been confirmed as the new boss of Fulham. He is also allowed to bring the "Taffia" of assistant coaches, Mark Bowen, Kevin Hitchcock and Eddie Niedzwiecki.

It's a signing that works for both parties — Fulham are a club with a somewhat limited budget, but the potential to grow on the back of some thrifty transfers. This is something that Hughes was noted for in his Blackburn days at least, and in the time before the the takeover (Kompany, Zabaleta, and Wright-Phillips spring to mind. I conveniently left out Tal Ben Haim of course).

However, once he had access to the cash he went mad, overpaying quite ridiculously for players such as Joleon Lescott and Roque Santa Cruz. Which is something we should have all seen coming — here's a quote from an old Telegraph article with Garry Cook from August 2008:

"We told Mark not to come if he thought we didn't need a superstar. Mark wants to challenge himself to manage the best footballers in the world. But Mark is from the old school. He would rather overpay for the player he knows than for the player where he's relying on scouting reports. That's an endearing piece of what Mark is all about. We can't have Roque Santa Cruz, which means Mark's now back in an uncomfortable zone where he will have to bring in someone new."

Anyway, without going over old issues, it will be good to see Hughes back in the Premier League, and hopefully Fulham will "ask more questions" of their opposition, and are more "dynamic" as a result...

Hughes with his first signing at Fulham, Roque Santa Cruz? Please?

38 Into 25 Just Won't Go — Is there room for Johnson and Ireland?

We’ve already signed Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Yaya Toure, and Aleksandar Kolarov this transfer window, and we could still add a few more — names such as Mario Balotelli, James Milner, Edin Dzeko, and Fernando Torres have all been heavily linked to the club, with at least two of those transfers expected to take place.

However, chances to the rules this season state that no team can assemble a squad of more than 25 players, eight of which must either be English or Welsh, or be "home grown"— that is, they spent three seasons before the age of 21 developing at an English club. Any player under the age of 21 is exempt from being included in the squad.

As it stands currently, we have over 38 players on our books, according to the OS. Admittedly, some of these are youth players, and some will undoubtedly be loaned out to clubs in the Championship or Football Leagues.

Even with this reduction, there are still some big names that are on the cusp of making the squad or not — and some of these players were brought in for big money under Mark Hughes less than 18 months ago. Players like Wayne Bridge and Roque Santa Cruz are no certainties to make the final 25.

Bear in mind though that this 25-man squad is only in force for Premier League fixtures — any player outside of this can be named in an FA Cup or Carling Cup match. There is also a separate 25-man squad for UEFA fixtures, which may or may not include the same players as the Premier League squad.

Some tough decisions need to be made this summer, and the biggest is to cut one, or both, of Ireland and Johnson.

Stevie’s issues have been well-documented, in the media and on this very website. Mancini, and Ireland himself, has to decide whether the real Stephen Ireland is the one that we saw during that 2008-09 season, where he was by some distant our player of the year — or the one that struggled to impart himself on any match last season.

Ireland has always blown hot and cold. He is definitely capable of some sheer brilliance, such as the last-gasp volley against Reading in the 2007-08 season, or a handful of goals in his breakthrough year two seasons ago. However, unless he is played in his exact preferred position of in the hole behind the strikers, he has little to no impact on the game, and has gone missing on many occasions.

But in modern football, players have to be versatile and play different positions if the game suggests. Jerome Boateng may be a right-back or centre-half, but during the World Cup for Germany, he found himself playing left-back, where he was exemplary. Steven Gerrard often plays on the wing for England, when Lampard and Barry play in his usual position in the centre of midfield.

The fact is that Ireland is almost 24 — around the same age as James Milner and David Silva. He’s no longer a kid. On his day, he is as good, or in fact better, than either of those two players. But how often is it "his day"? City are no longer in a position where we can carry a player in the hope that he comes good.

As it stands, Ireland is my 25th player picked — but if we do sign Milner, then I’m afraid it’s time to let go of the Emerald Prince.

Michael Johnson is another City product that has been touted as "the next best thing" for City, even earning comparisons to the great Colin Bell. However, these comparisons were made when he first broke through to the first team in the 2007-08 season. Since then, he has lurched from injury to injury. He won’t be fit until December at the earliest — but even that’s an optimistic prognosis.

Johnson was perhaps a good young player for the places we wanted to go three years ago. But with hardly any first team football in that time, combined with the increase in City’s ambitions, I don’t believe that Johnson does, nor should, have a future at the club.

We all love to see academy products go on to achieve wonderful things but there comes a time when we need to accept that they just aren't going to be good enough to achieve the goals we’re aiming for.

Craig Bellamy has been linked with a move away from the club ever since Hughes was sacked, however I fully expect him to be a City player at the start of the season. Despite his brilliant performances for the club in the last 18 months, it must be remembered that he is still 31 years old, with dodgy knees and a chequered history. I can't see too many clubs paying more than £5 million for his services, nor can I see them picking up his wage bill. So why not keep him? I think he still has plenty to offer the club.

Barring any new signings, this is how I’d expect us to shape up for the upcoming season.

Goalkeepers
Shay Given
Joe Hart
Stuart Taylor

Defenders
Kolo Toure
Joleon Lescott
Jerome Boateng
Aleksandar Kolarov
Vincent Kompany
Pablo Zabaleta
Wayne Bridge/Javier Garrido
Micah Richards
Nedum Onuoha
Dedryck Boyata
Greg Cunningham

Midfielders
Yaya Toure
Gareth Barry
Nigel De Jong
Patrick Vieira
James Milner/Stephen Ireland
Abdisalam Ibrahim

Wingers
Adam Johnson
David Silva
Craig Bellamy
Robinho
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Vladimir Weiss

Strikers
Carlos Tevez
Emmanuel Adebayor
Roque Santa Cruz/Felipe Caicedo/Jo
Mario Balotelli
Alex Nimely-Tchuimeni

This means that there are no positions in the squad for: Javier Garrido, one of Felipe Caicedo, Jo or Roque Santa Cruz, Kelvin Etuhu, Michael Johnson, Stephen Ireland, David Gonzalez, and Shaleum Logan.

Players in grey are under 21, and therefore are exempt from the squad.
Players in blue are "home grown". There must be a minimum of eight in the squad.

Mancini Unveils His Most Recent Purchase, Kolarov...

Meanwhile, Baconface is spotted outside Vermin Towers with his latest purchases — Karloff and Eristoff...

OFFICIAL: Aleksandar Kolarov signs.

What was that we said yesterday about deals dragging on? Well City go and make fools of us all, and announce that Aleksandar Kolarov will join the club from Lazio. Tentative details are here.

Roberto Mancini said:

"I first saw Kolarov in his Lazio debut back in 2007... I was impressed by the speed and strength of someone so young. He was composed on the ball had an excellent delivery with his left foot and was technically very able."

"I have watched him a lot since then and so have the Manchester City scouts. His attacking capability is very good. He is fast and can shoot with power and accuracy."

"He also has the ability to play in numerous positions and is very good in midfield. This is an additional benefit to the team. He has a fantastic international career ahead of him. I am looking forward to working with him."

This signing is an extension of our current policy of not just having back-up players, but two quality players fighting for each position. It's a long season ahead with a (hopefully) a lot of games in different competitions, so we need to have a squad strong enough to compete on all fronts. Ideally, players in our Second XI should be able to walk into most other teams in the league.

Well done to all involved!