Less than a week after his official appointment as Manchester City manager, Sven-G?ran Eriksson made his first foray into the transfer market yesterday with the £9 million capture of Rolando Bianchi, the former Italy Under-21 striker, from Reggina.
Bianchi flew to Manchester to undergo a medical last night and will conclude the formalities of the deal this morning having agreed a four-year contract worth £40,000 a week that will make him the club’s best-paid player.
City are hopeful that Bianchi will be able to fly out with the rest of the squad to Sweden on Sunday for a preseason training camp, although it is very doubtful that he will play in the friendly against Doncaster Rovers tomorrow.
The 24-year-old becomes the second most expensive signing in City’s history after Nicolas Anelka, who joined for £13 million from Paris Saint-Germain in June 2002, although supporters will hope that he fares better than the last Italian to arrive at the club.
Bianchi’s arrival will almost certainly spell the end of Bernardo Corradi’s short and undistinguished career at the City of Manchester Stadium, with the former Valencia, Lazio and Inter Milan striker expected to return to Italy this summer, although with money no longer an issue in the wake of Thaksin Shinawatra’s £81.6 million takeover, Eriksson is likely to leave the process of unloading players until after he has lured his principal targets.
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One of those is thought to be Yakubu Ayegbeni, the £12 million-rated Middlesbrough striker, who Eriksson is expected to pursue after landing Bianchi.
Middlesbrough are loath to lose Yakubu, although Eriksson is believed to be confident of signing the 24-year-old Nigerian, especially in light of his good relations with Pini Zahavi, the player’s agent.
While Bianchi will be walking into uncharted waters, Yakubu’s proven goalscoring record in the Barclays Premier League – he has scored 54 goals in 130 league starts for Middlesbrough and Portsmouth over the past 3½ seasons – appeals to the former England head coach.
Eriksson is prepared to spend at least half his estimated £40 million transfer kitty on strikers given City’s chronic shortage of goals under Stuart Pearce last season, when they managed only ten at home in the league.
Rather troublingly, Bianchi’s scoring record was virtually nonexistent before last season, when he found the net 18 times effectively to keep Reggina in Serie A, but Eriksson has canvassed the opinions of his Italian contacts and is confident that the former Atalanta striker has what it takes to flourish in England.
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Bianchi’s dream is to play for AC Milan, but a conversation with Eriksson convinced him that a move to City was the right option, even if his remarks yesterday seemed to suggest that he would have preferred to stay in Italy. “Mr Eriksson called me personally and told me he wanted me at any cost,” Bianchi said. “He told me ‘come and we will be watched by 50,000 fans every Saturday and we want to be in Europe’. When he just mentioned the word Europe, I had a big feeling. Nothing was moving in Italy so I had to take this chance. I hope one day I can return to Italy with a big club, but I am beginning this new adventure and I now want that at any cost. I want to do well and show what I can do.”
Eriksson has cast his net far and wide in his search for new players, although it is unlikely that Fredrik Ljungberg, the Arsenal and Sweden winger, will be moving to City, despite the former Lazio coach’s admiration for his countryman.
Meanwhile, Michael Ball, the left back, has signed a new two-year contract with the club after impressing last season in the wake of his move from PSV Eindhoven.