Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean reveals desire to sign on-loan Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz permanently
Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean revealed he was hoping to sign on-loan Manchester City striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roque-Santa-Cruz-c31778 on a more permanent basis. This is the 29-year-old’s second spell at Ewood Park after failing to secure a place in the first team at Manchester City.
Santa Cruz joined the Rovers on a four-year deal from German outfit Bayern Munich in 2007 for a fee of £3.5 million. His debut season with the club went well to say the least; the Paraguayan went on to score an impressive 23 goals in 43 appearances in all competitions.
When he was linked with a move to big spending Manchester City in early 2008, Santa Cruz denied all such speculation and signed a new four-year contract with the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rovers-c40385. City did not give up and continued to bid for Santa Cruz even though Blackburn rejected their initial offers.
However, in the end Blackburn settled for £17.5 million for the striker who made his desire to leave Ewood Park very clear. He signed with Manchester City in 2009 while Mark Hughes was still in charge of the Eastlands club.
Even with Mark Hughes as manager, Santa Cruz failed to find his form at his new club, which was not helped with injuries he sustained throughout that season. He made a total of 22 appearances and only managed to score 4 goals.
New Manchester City boss Roberto http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paraguay-c2979 international making two appearances before he was eventually sent back to Blackburn on-loan in the January transfer window.
Since his return to Blackburn, Santa Cruz has made six appearances but has not managed to find the back of the net as yet. However, Kean maintained confidence in the striker and revealed he believed the Paraguayan striker would return to his goal scoring form.
Kean said while speaking to reporters, “We would love to sign him. We tried to fix a price with City in January when we signed him on loan and they wouldn't do it. We'll get to the end of the season and see where we can take it, but the good thing is he wants to stay.”
The Rovers boss continued, “He's a quality player, but he hasn't played a lot of football. He's taken a bit of time to get up to speed and he's picked up a couple of niggling injuries. But we are adamant that if we get him on the pitch, then he will contribute.”
Keane insisted Santa Cruz had been making progress on the training ground and despite his poor form recently, was capable of being one of the best strikers in the English Premier League. He believed his lack of form was due to his lack of first team football, something he would be guaranteed if he signed with Blackburn on a more permanent basis.
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