As I write this Sergio Aguero is in Manchester grabbing some lunch (probably in one of our 2 restaurants, isn't that right Carlos?) before completing his transfer from Atletico Madrid this afternoon. Clearly a fantastic signing no matter what happens with the future of Carlos Tevez, but is that the end of our Summer spending? I suspect probably not, we are still being linked with a few players, but who are the runners and riders?
The Samir Nasri saga is dragging on and on but things could very easily come to a head with that deal over the next few days. As has been reported repeatedly in the press, the Frenchmen is in the last year of his contract and under pressure Arsene Wenger is doing his best to hang onto him in the vain hope that he may decide to renew his deal sometime this season. We have made our interest pretty publicly clear thanks in part to some awkward and perhaps clumsy comments from Roberto Mancini, and when the managers views were aired it was assumed a deal was close. The Gunners pre-season tour of Asia however seemed to put an end to an imminent signing, but now that the Arsenal squad are returning to England to take part in the Emirates cup this weekend there could very easily be movement over the coming days. Twitter is home of a fair few rumours suggesting that we have left an offer on the table and that it is a significantly better package than that coming from Old Trafford. I think there is a pretty good chance of this one happening at some point, Mancini clearly wants him and if a deal can be sorted to secure an exit for Carlos Tevez there would certainly be money available for the 24 year old.
There is another rumour doing the rounds linking a less well known name to Eastlands, unfortunately it is not someone that I know a huge amount about, and to be honest, what I do know is hardly something worth getting excited about. The man in question is 24 year old Fiorentina winger Alessio Cerci. I have done some research online and discovered that the Italy under 21 international is a bit of a flair player but maybe not with the best final product. It seems that his finest attribute is his pace, and he has the ability to beat a man, but the Italian reports I have read suggest that he doesn't turn up every week and he is not overly reliable when up against more physical opposition. I don't really think what we need is another flair player with a slightly questionable attitude, but in Roberto Mancini we should trust. He generally has got his signings right, and if we do wind up bringing in the left sided player for a reported £6million then we will have to reserve judgement.
The third and final rumour (for this article anyway) doing the rounds is those old claims about Wesley Sneijder. It is looking increasingly likely that the Dutch maestro will remain in Milan this season after a supposed offer from City and United didn't seem to come to fruition. I still personally reckon that Fergie may make another attempt to take him to Salford, he is exactly the sort of player that they need. I think the fact that rumours regarding Nasri are cranking up again suggests that we have abandoned whatever interest we supposedly ever had in the former Madrid midfielder. Clearly he would be a great player, and he would add a lot to our squad. It just doesn't seem overly likely to me at this point, I suppose there could still be a deal done involving Sneijder and Tevez but at this moment in time there are no real indicators either way. It would be lovely to see, but at this moment it seems dead in the water.
Knowing City there will be loads more players linked with us over the coming days, but if we secure Nasri on top of Aguero I personally will be pretty content with our Summer business and the next priority is sorting the future of our wantaway striker and then to make sure that we hit the ground running against Swansea on the 15th.
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