EDIN DZEKO, Manchester City’s principal target in next month’s transfer window, has written to the club to say he wants to make the move happen and effectively ask if they will sign him, increasing the possibility that he will arrive either as a replacement or a new partner for Carlos Tevez.
The prolific Wolfsburg striker sent his letter to a senior executive at Eastlands earlier in the season, expressing his admiration for the club and his gratitude for their efforts to buy him in the August window. Talks broke down at that stage because Wolfsburg would not lower their asking price, in the region of €53 million, whereas City valued him closer to €35 million. However, City have maintained their interest in the Bosnia international and their information is that Dzeko still feels the same about the possibility of becoming the club’s latest big-money transfer.
City are now hoping to reach a compromise fee with Wolfsburg to resurrect the deal. It may still need some prolonged negotiating, with the German club having obvious misgivings about losing such an important player in the middle of the Bundesliga season, but City are increasingly optimistic after inviting some of Dzeko’s representatives to watch the Manchester derby last month and showing them round their training ground.
Dzeko’s arrival would allow the club to move on Emmanuel Adebayor, who is regarded as a disruptive influence as well as not making the grade, in the manager Roberto Mancini’s opinion, in terms of what is needed for a potential title-winning side.
Dzeko, at 6ft 3in, would provide City’s front line with an aerial threat that has been lacking this season, Mancini’s team being the only side in the top division not to score a headed goal. He will be seen as a potential replacement for Tevez but, ideally, Mancini wants to put the two players together.
After a four-day break in Tenerife Tevez returned to training yesterday but did not see Mancini, who is in Italy for a minor operation on his left eye, and the manager will join the squad in Turin for tomorrow’s Europa League tie against Juventus.
After being suspended for Saturday’s game at West Ham United Tevez had initially been pencilled in to travel with the squad today but, following the player’s statement on Sunday confirming he wanted a transfer, Mancini has decided to keep him in Manchester and will not see him until Friday.
Those talks could have a strong bearing on a lot of things, predominantly whether Mancini decides the club should accede to Tevez or continue to try to dissuade him. The club are in conflict with Tevez’s adviser, Kia Joorabchian, and the chief executive, Garry Cook, may have to try to tackle that situation before anything can change.
Mancini has said in the past he would not keep any unsettled players but Tevez’s importance to the team, with 33 goals in 50 Premier League appearances, is such that the Italian will try to persuade him to reconsider his options. He must also decide whether Tevez should still be considered an automatic first-team pick at a time when he has openly said he is not committed to the club and that his relationship with certain individuals, namely Cook and the football administrator Brian Marwood, has “broken down” beyond repair.
Leaving him out of the Juventus tie was a relatively straightforward decision, with City already qualified for the next stage of the competition and little resting on the match, but Monday’s league match at home to Everton is a different matter.
Mancini must weigh up whether the striker is in the right frame of mind, whether the crowd’s reaction may be detrimental to the team’s performance and also whether he should remove the captaincy. If so, Kolo Toure or Vincent Kompany would be the obvious candidates.
The irony is that Dzeko, like Tevez and Adebayor, has clashed with his manager recently, walking straight past Steve McClaren’s outstretched hand after being substituted in a goalless draw against Werder Bremen two weekends ago.
Dzeko later issued a statement saying he had no problem with the former England coach: “What I did was not right but it has nothing to do with the coach, with whom I have always had, and still have, good relations.” He also pledged €5,000 to a charity for children in the Wolfsburg area.
Guardian Service
