Why Take The Risk With Ljundberg?

Reports today that Sven is on the brink of signing Freddie Ljundberg for £6m is not good news in my opinion.

Ljundberg in his prime was a fantastic player, but now at 30 is not good value for that sort of money plus the high wages he'll almost certainly command.

Add to that the fact that for the past two seasons, he's been dogged by injuries and it doesn't look a particularly smart buy. If it happens, as it now seems it will, it is likely to end up in the same way as Reyna, Cole, Hamann, Fowler, McManaman etc with them spending more time with the physio than on the pitch.

We need to sign younger, fit and hungry players and avoid 30-somethings whose careers are declining, something City have made a speciality of over the years and it's never worked.

Sven should listen to Micah and sign Defoe instead - that would be a much better investment !

Sven's Shrinking Transfer Window

After a few weeks of relative inactivity, the transfer window seems to be getting into gear at last with news this morning that Darren Bent has signed for Spurs for what to me seems like an over-priced £16.5m.

Back home at Eastlands, we're still caught up in this frustratingly slow take-over that has put a halt to any signings until it has been concluded. Please, if any shareholders are reading this article, sell your shares today !

What I can't quite get my head round is why Frank's current 70% holding is not enough for Sven to sign on the dotted line and why everything is on hold until another 5% of shares are acquired? I'm sure somebody will explain it strikes me as just a bit of a technicality rather than a showstopper.

Anyways, what this means is that City run the risk of missing out on a crop of decent, available players which must be a worry for Sven if he sees most of his targets snapped up by other clubs who are able to open the cheque book and move quickly.

The additional Sky money will certainly distort the transfer market even more this year, but nevertheless there are still potential bargains to be had if deals can be sorted quickly.

For example, Villa's highly rated young midfielder Steven Davis is available for around £4m, Phil Jagielka is apparently on the verge of joining Everton for around the same fee, Reo-Coker is hovering around the £7-8m mark and David Nugent has still not been snapped up by anyone yet. Kevin Nolan also looks like he could be leaving Bolton and a short move down the road to Eastlands could surely be on the cards.

Bent's arrival at White Hart Lane is likely to signal the departure of Jermaine Defoe who would be a great acquisition for City for the right price.

Another Spurs striker continues to be linked to us, but now that City apparently have a large transfer kitty to give to Sven, hopefully we will not be buying Mido and all the baggage that comes with him - we've had enough of that with Barton.

Whilst on the subject of strikers we don't want to see at City, please not Marlon Harewood - he's just not good enough and his arrival would seriously shorten any honeymoon period Sven is likely to enjoy as City boss. Similarly, no Michael Owen - too expensive, too prone to injury and too high risk; you'd be lucky to get 10-15 games out of him per season - let the Rags have him !