Rumour Mill: City Moving For £35Million Catalan Star?

Though the transfer window has closed, the rumour mill continues to churn out some of the most scurrilous rumours you could ever wish to have splashed across your back pages, and there is a gem currently forming.  Talksport and various other websites are reporting that after failing in a bid to sign Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi, Roberto Mancini will turn his attention to Barcelona anchorman Sergio Busquets, right, so who thinks there is any truth in this one?

It has become quite apparent in recent weeks that Bobby felt we were a bit short in that area of the field, the capture of Owen Hargreaves has the potential I think to be a particularly shrewd move but it appears to be a signing out of the bargin bin as opposed to the luxury aisle.  We were linked with forgotten Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago as well as De Rossi but neither of these moves came to fruition, whether Busquets is the answer I am not quite sure.

My own feelings were that even before the signing of Hargreaves we had more than enough cover in that department, but now with injuries to Milner, Barry and De Jong we suddenly look a little short, I suspect Zabaleta will fill the gap alongside Toure in our Champions League curtain raiser tomorrow night and I am sure he will do a perfectly adequate job.  Even with the injuries I am not certain we need more bodies in that area.

As for Busquets, well he is clearly an excellent player, he has kept Javier Mascherano out of his prefered position at the Nou Camp and his versatility is also impressive but I am not sure he is a £35million player, for me there are better options out there that would be considerably cheaper if the clubs staff continue to think it is an area requiring strengthening.

Young French midfielder Yann M'Vila is one player that I certainly believe would be able to do the job better and for less, Arsenal were linked with a £22million move for the Rennes midfielder towards the end of this transfer window only to see it rebuffed.  The youngster has been likened to Patrick Vieira and I cannot think of much higher praise for someone plying their trade in that position.                            

          

I think deep down though I can't get away from the fact that I just don't see it as a necessary purchase and with FFP looming large on the horizon it feels like a bit of an extravagance.  On top of that I would prefer us to look to youth, we are currently having a bit of an unlucky spell in terms of injuries in that part of the pitch, but surely we can look to players like Abdul Razak, a player of immense potential to help fill the gap.  He is a player that I really rate and I think we will see him appear on quite a few occasions this season.

I suspect this is a story based purely on the the fact that Mancini has made it clear he would have preferred to sign another defensive midfielder .  He did however capture one in the end, albeit not one of the big names that was his first choice, if Hargreaves can prove his fitness I can't see us needing any more bodies in that role.