Premier League - City halt Santa Cruz chase

Eurosport - Mon, 02 Feb 19:01:00 2009

Mark Hughes resisted the temptation to make a deadline-day attempt to snap up Roque Santa Cruz even though the Manchester City manager feels his side badly lack a target man.

FOOTBALL Blackburn Rovers Santa Cruz - 0

City officials were completely bewildered by talk of a renewed offer for the South American at 4pm as there had been no contact with Blackburn since their last bid at the end of last week.

With City snubbing an £8 million approach from Newcastle for England Under-21 midfielder Michael Johnson, the January transfer window closed quietly for the club that attempted to sign Kaka earlier this month.

Whether that allows City to move forward as quickly as Hughes had hoped remains to be seen.

The Welshman has added Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Nigel de Jong and Shay Given to his squad but, in the aftermath of Saturday's defeat at 10-man Stoke City, Hughes admitted he needed a more physical presence in attack.

"Sometimes you need to put the ball into the right areas in the box and things will drop for you," he said.

"At the moment we do not have that option. It is probably as a consequence of a lack of a physical presence that has been highlighted time and time again."

Now Hughes knows he must get to the end of the season without that physical presence, with the exit on loan to Everton of Jo's burly frame only emphasising City's belief the Brazilian has completely failed to impress since his summer arrival from CSKA Moscow.

There was no chance of letting Johnson go though.

The midfielder may have suffered too many injuries recently and there have been negative rumours about his attitude, but City still feel Johnson can recapture the form which saw him likened to Blues legend Colin Bell.

Now Hughes must work with what he has, knowing Given will bring more solidity at the back.

A veteran of World Cup and Champions League combat, Given is clear to feature in City's assault on the UEFA Cup, which restarts against Copenhagen next month.

"I was delighted to get the move tied up because of the UEFA deadline last night," said Given.

"I didn't want to be sat in the stands if City are going to be picking up the UEFA Cup later this season."

Given's arrival has been viewed as bad news for England international Joe Hart, who has been City's number one for the past 18 months.

However, the 32-year-old believes he can offer Hart and City's other young keeper Kasper Schmeichel some valuable advice in the future.

"I have a lot of experience that I can pass on," he said.

"They might not be all that happy to see me but I would like to think that we can all work together and all improve together.

"I rate Joe highly. He has done fantastically well this season but he is still very young in goalkeeping terms."

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce later insisted that Rovers' precarious position in the Premier League meant that Santa Cruz's preference for a move to Eastlands was not a major consideration.

"This situation doesn't happen very often. More often than not the player probably gets his own way," he told SkySports News.

"But in the position we were in it was impossible to agree to that, so we stood firm."

Allardyce added: "The most important thing was keeping a squad together that's a very good and tight-knit squad.

"I wanted to keep that unity and myself and (chairman) John Williams worked so hard in this window to make sure we resisted any bids from anybody.

"We're really pleased that we've managed to do that to help us secure, as quickly as possible, our Premier League status for another season."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 15 of 15

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  1. Even if Burnley dont get promotion, as long as Blackburn get relegated it will be the sweetest day.

    From ERIC M, on Tue 3 Feb 9:56PM

  2. Shut up you bunch of sad man city idiots. Money cannot buy you the history that rovers have got. It seems to me that money is the root of all evil. Get lost and carry on being just another average premier league team!!!!

    From anders.harvey, on Tue 3 Feb 6:24PM

  3. city will not be back for cruz blackburn have missed the money train

    From steven.minney, on Tue 3 Feb 4:27PM

  4. Sorry dermotcarr, but we are all where we are in the league because of the chances we didn't convert, not just Blackburn. Having said that, I really do hope that you don't get relegated as I respect Blackburn as a club.

    From michael.hardy11, on Tue 3 Feb 3:01PM

  5. you lot are talking rubbish. hughes never valued Cruz at £18m, he offered £12m and that was the only reported offer for Cruz. Blackburn want to keep hold of him and he will get more goals this season (barring injury). Cruz is a professional, he's getting paid by Rovers to do his job and he will continue to do so until he can get his big money move in the summer. I'm guessing he'll leave in June for around £10m, still a nice return for a player who cost £3.5m. Mind you, i still see Blackburn finishing higher in the league than Man City, 5 points separate them at the moment and Blackburn are on the cusp of a long winning streak, we just need to improve on our finishing and had we taken our chances against teams over the festive period then we'd be well above Man City....

    From dermotcarr, on Tue 3 Feb 12:22PM

  6. There are no winners in this Santa Cruz business, just two losers. Blackburn would have made good use of the money, and City desperately needed a big, bruising striker. City still have the money which is no use to them, and Blackburn still have a wantaway big, bruising striker. The fans of both clubs could have sorted this out more effectively than these two egoistical managers, and at the end of the day it will be the fans who will suffer.

    From michael.hardy11, on Tue 3 Feb 11:08AM

  7. just sell him...
    his heart is not in rovers again...

    go rovers go..!!

    From mikharenta, on Tue 3 Feb 1:25AM

  8. As a City fan i think Big Sam was holding out for the 25 million knowing that Hughes wanted him badly, unfortumately Hughes called Big Sam's bluff and decided the player just wasn't worth that kind of coin.
    I think the Blackburn boss has been left with egg on his face, it was a nice bluff but it backfired and as one or two Blackburn fans have already posted, Santa Cruz isn't happy and he won't give Blackburn his all for the rest of the season.
    I think City will continue their interest in the Summer and get Santa Cruz for around 11 million, a figure that will reflect his performances for the remainder of this season.

    From karl s, on Mon 2 Feb 10:51PM

  9. terrible for Blackburn. 18million, bite citys arm off. he's not even that good. Blackburn made the same mistake when Chelsea bid for McCarthy after 1 good season.

    with 18 million Blackburn could have got bout 4 players that would strengthen the team cause right now the team aint great or young.

    From yip, on Mon 2 Feb 10:41PM

  10. get over it city fans .you have not got him.hughes had not got the ba*ls to splash out that sort of money his nerve failed him .

    From steven a, on Mon 2 Feb 10:25PM

  11. I am glad this window is closed lets hope they lock it and sling away the key
    Its been a month of rubbish and should be done away with

    From , on Mon 2 Feb 10:23PM

  12. why keep a player whos hearts not in it..he,ll regret that decision will old sammy..

    From tom, on Mon 2 Feb 10:21PM

  13. Allardyce reckons it had nothing to do with the price as to why Santa Cruz wasn't sold (yeah right) he reckons that to let Cruz go they would have needed someone else in as a replacement...........erm, hasn't he had like a month to to sort this out ?

    The truth of the matter is Allardyce was trying to bleed every last penny he thought he could get for Cruz , he seems to forget it was Hughes who took him to Blackburn in the first place for a fee of £3.5m so why should City be held to ransom paying way over the odds, Mark Hughes valued Santa at £18m which seemed a very fair offer, I didn't see anyone else coming in for him in the transfer window.

    Like i've mentioned before Santa Cruz is now one very unhappy bunny at Ewood Park he should have come to City and if Allardyce thinks he's going to get the goals to keep them up he'll have to think again because he won't show his true form, he doesn't want to be at the club.

    From JOHN, on Mon 2 Feb 10:17PM

  14. He`ll go for half that amount in the summer,even if Blackburn stay up or not.

    From brendaneyre, on Mon 2 Feb 8:49PM

  15. ooops looks like Sam really messed up could have had 18 mil to play with now he`s got nowt and an unhappy player aswell looks like the championship for us

    From gotto63, on Mon 2 Feb 8:41PM
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