The numbers in the Manchester City squad simply don’t add up
As any good, or indeed bad, mathematics teacher will tell you, 37 into 25 simply doesn’t go.
With Manchester City still seemingly intent on recruiting anyone and everyone who will give them and their millions the time of day – from Mario Balotelli to James Milner to Fernando Torres – the Eastlands club appear to be paying little attention to what happens next.
This season, the Premier League have introduced a rule that ensures that all clubs have to submit a list of 25 players eligible for the competition, with eight of those being British or registered with British clubs for at least three years before they were 21. City are likely to have no problem with this new “homegrown” rule, but the sheer number of their playing staff presents a huge obstacle.
There are 37 professionals on board, and with Balotelli and Milner looking likely to become the 38th and 39th members of Roberto Mancini’s ever-expanding squad – Torres looks less likely to be the 40th – then surely the time has come for the Italian to undertake a cull, but who’s on the chopping block?
Stephen Ireland
A stellar 2008/09 saw Ireland named as City’s Player of the Year, yet he failed to repeat that form last season amid fitness and health concerns. He collapsed at half time in a Carling Cup tie with Fulham amid – thankfully untrue – heart attack fears, which led to amazing revelations about a fanatical fitness regime that often included running up steep hills at 7am. Getting back in City’s team will be akin to climbing several mountains though as, squeezed out by Mancini’s raft of new midfield signings, he has barely had a look in. Not 24 until next month, surely he’s worth someone taking a gamble?
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Just ahead of Steven Gerrard as England’s best midfielder at the World Cup if you believe the ever-popular “Capello Index”, Wright-Phillips has seen his position at City further undermined by the arrivals of Adam Johnson and David Silva at the club. His move back to City from moneybags Chelsea in 2008 was seen as a great return home for a former hero, but once City became even richer he started to get squeezed out again. He surely wouldn’t be short of suitors should he decide to leave, and he has been mentioned as part of the deal that could take Milner from Aston Villa.
Joe Hart
Shay Given, watch your back. An interesting battle will develop for City’s No.1 spot should Hart stay at the club, especially after Irishman Given declared that the 23-year-old, who was voted the best goalkeeper in the Premier League while on loan at Birmingham last season, was “too inexperienced” to play in goal for England at the World Cup. Links with Arsenal never came to fruition, and so Hart – who has been playing for City in pre-season – looks set to challenge Given for the first-choice goalkeeper slot. However, Given’s vice-captain status probably ensures that there’s only one winner there, and seeing as Hart wants to play, there’s only one likely outcome too.
Craig Bellamy
Norwich, Coventry, Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool and West Ham have all employed the fiery Welshman before, and he’s never been short of admirers despite a chequered past. Now 31, he’d be available for a knockdown fee despite being one of City’s most impressive performers last season, and Harry Redknapp has already declared that he’d love to bring him to Tottenham. Everton’s David Moyes is a confirmed fan too, while there have been whispers about Roy Hodgson making a move to bring him back Anfield. He’s unlikely to go anywhere quietly.
Nedum Onuoha
The arrival of Jérôme Boateng may just prove to be one defensive addition too far for the home-grown talent, who earned eight ‘A’ grades at GCSE and three more at A level. He takes that intelligence onto the pitch too, and is capable of playing at both right-back and centre-back. Young, quick and English, the defender has plenty of fans amongst Premier League managers, with Sunderland’s Steve Bruce a confirmed admirer.
Michael Johnson
Persistent injuries have checked the progress of the exciting young midfield talent who emerged as an 18-year-old in 2006, ensuring that he’s made just 37 appearances for the first team, and only 10 since Sven-Göran Eriksson left the club. Concerns have been expressed about his career, but provided he can get fit then perhaps a loan move to a Championship club will benefit all parties.
Roque Santa Cruz
Perhaps the living embodiment of City’s over-spending, Mark Hughes paid Blackburn Rovers £17.5million for the injury-prone striker last summer. The Paraguayan had scored 23 goals under Hughes at Rovers in the 2007/08 season, but has never been the same since, and eyebrows were raised when City took him to Eastlands. The arrival of Balotelli would freeze him out further, and a move to a Premier League club with lower standards might see him rediscover the form he showed at Ewood Park.
Javier Garrido
Yes, he is still there. The underwhelming utility man is probably memorable for only two moments in his City career – free-kick goals against Liverpool and Wolves – for there has been little else. The signing of Aleksandar Kolarov further weakens his position, and surely a move back to Spain beckons.
Felipe Caicedo
Loan spells at Sporting Lisbon and Malaga have ended, and the Ecuadorian returns to City to find yet more players blocking his place. He has shown real potential in the past – scoring eight goals for City in the 2008/09 campaign – but despite still being only 21, his days at Eastlands look numbered simply because he’s not a big enough name. Would be a good loan signing for a promoted Premier League side.
Patrick Vieira
Yaya Touré has become the latest body to block Vieira’s route into the team, and the midfielder would surely be agitating for a move if he wasn’t so happy to sit back and enjoy his pay packet. Undoubtedly a terrific player on his day, his day was a long time ago, and the Frenchman will find it hard to break into Mancini’s plans this season.
Jô
City’s £18million outlay in the summer of 2008 has so far bought them nine Premier League games and one goal. Two loan spells at Everton produced a little more, and the Brazilian ended last season on loan at Galatasaray where, surprise surprise, he failed to pull up any trees. He has featured for City in pre-season, but that seems to just be an attempt on their part to remind buying clubs that he does still exist.
Vladimír Weiss
Slovakian international Weiss doesn’t actually come under the new Premier League restrictions because of his age and the fact that he’s been at City for four years, but a loan deal for the tricky winger looks likely. The 20-year-old impressed while playing under his father – also Vladimír – at the World Cup, and Owen Coyle could be tempted to take him back to Bolton, where he spent the second half of last season on loan.
Kelvin Etuhu
The 22-year-old brother of Fulham’s Dickson was on loan at Cardiff last season, but he has more important matters on his mind than football at the moment, as he waits to face an assault charge next week relating to an incident outside a Manchester casino. Providing he comes through that, another temporary move to the Championship looks likely.
Shaleum Logan
Four loan moves to League One and Two clubs in the past three years haven’t got him any closer to the City team, and the addition of new defenders further weakens his case. He knows where the doorway is.
There will be plenty following him through it.
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