Manchester City have flexed their muscle in the transfer window once more after securing Stefan Savic on a four-year deal in a £6 million deal.
The Partizan Belgrade defender is the club’s latest defensive recruit after the £7 million deal to sign Gael Clichy from Arsenal and will be a welcome distraction from the ongoing Carlos Tevez saga.
While the Argentina forward has made clear his intention to leave City, with the club preparing to dig in their heels for £50 million, Roberto Mancini has shown that he is planning for the future regardless. As reported in The Times this week, the club are also attempting to hijack Juentus’s bid to sign Sergio Aguero, the Atletico Madrid forward.
Savic has performed both for Partizan Belgrade, who won the Serbian title last term, and Montenegro, who have climbed the Fifa rankings and represent the greatest threat to England’s hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2012.
Indeed, when the two countries fought out a goalless draw at Wembley in October, Savic came up against five City players. “I never imagined that I’d be team-mates with all those City players within a year,” he said.
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“I can’t wait to play alongside them and all the other fantastic players we have here. Montenegro play England later this year so I am expecting to have some great banter with the England lads.”
Savic will play alongside Aleksandar Kolarov, of Serbia, and Bosnian Edin Dzeko, who hail from the same region.
“It is a dream come true and I am especially looking forward to meeting Edin and Aleksandar because they both speak my language and come from the Balkans, too,” Savic said. “Aleks has already phoned me to welcome to City which makes me feel at home already.
“I watch the Premier League all the time. I know it’s the place to be so I am just looking forward to helping this club achieve great things.
“We have an incredible stadium and I’ve seen how passionate the City fans are many times on TV.
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“I am just really happy to be a City player.”