Who Is Stefan Savic and What Could His Signing Mean?

It seems that transfer activity will finally begin this week at Eastlands with the possible signings of both Gael Clichy and young defender Stefan Savic.  We know all about the former but who is Stefan Savic and what sort of player are we signing?

Talking to the media in Italy today his signing was more or less confirmed by Roberto Mancini, the 20 year has been courted by many teams across Europe and is lauded as one of the rising stars of European football.  This appears to be further evidence of the club looking to the future and attempting to sign future stars securing the teams well being for years to come.

The central defender was born in Montenegro and began his career playing for BSK Borca in Serbia, he spent two seasons with the club before he moved onto bigger things and signed for Partizan last Summer.  It was during that season that he began to demonstrate his immense potential and clubs around Europe began to notice.

At 6'1 the defender is a commanding presence in the air and he has good strength that will help him adapt to English football relatively quickly, his pace has also been praised and he is surprisingly pacey for a taller defender.

Savic is expected to cost the club around £7million, a figure that seems acceptable when you consider the supposed potential that he possesses.  He has previously been on trial with Arsenal and in fact he claimed that a deal was in place that would have taken him to the Emirates, but this proposed transfer never came to fruition, it was reported at the time that Arsene Wenger was unwilling to part with the required money to secure him, where have we heard that before?

Chelsea and Tottenham have also been linked with swoops but it now appears that City have won the race.  So what does this signing mean for the rest of the squad?  I would imagine that at just 20 years of age it is unlikely that he will be a regular in the first team, and he may even spend some time playing with the reserve team initially to get used to a new country.  I would expect that we will begin the season with Lescott and Kompany at the heart of the defense with Dedyrck Boyata offering cover and with the return of Kolo Toure in September it seems unlikely that we will be in the market for any more defenders if this deal proves successful.

The 2 players who could really lose out are Nedum Onuoha and Jerome Boateng, although whether the latter would view a move away from Manchester as 'losing out' is clearly questionable.  Savic is comfortable playing at full back as well as centrally so with him providing cover for Richards, Zabaleta, Kolarov and potentially Clichy you can't see there being much of a future for Neds or Boateng come the start of the next season.

I hope this deal goes through in the end, I have always been keen for us to move for future talents rather than taking the Real Madrid approach to transfers.  Earlier in the Summer we were linked to a huge move for Gary Cahill a transfer that would have cost us £17million and when you consider United recently paid £16million for Phil Jones, the money we might pay for Savic could really make it a massive steal and a fantastic piece of business.  On the other hand he could be dross, but lets not worry about that for the time being....

Rumour Mill: Who Is Aly Cissokho?

Like many, I am sick to the back teeth of Alexis Sanchez and all the rubbish (nearly used a stronger word there) floating around the press and twitter about him.  It doesn't seem long ago that we were content with a deadline day swoop for DaMarcus Beasley, or a desperate renewal of Kiki Musampa's loan.  We are now being linked with just about everyone and even when there is no news or no new development the papers are full of mere speculation.


Perhaps it seems strange therefore for me to write about such rumours, well to be honest there are some that make sense, and some that aren't rammed down our throats every 30mins on Sky Sports News, these ones, whilst still probably a load of nonsense are infinitely more interesting and definitely worth thinking about.  My frustration isn't with the rumour mill, it is more with the media regurgitating here-say and presenting it as fact, something that has happened endlessly with Sanchez.


Anyone delving a little deeper into the Manchester City transfer speculation over the last few days will no doubt have come across the name Aly Cissokho, and it was with great pleasure that I saw us being linked with the 23 year old.


The French international is a left back and a pretty damn good one if you ask me.  Currently plying his trade with Lyon he has began to impress many and has attracted attention from a few different clubs, including Liverpool and Arsenal.  Previously he played in Portugal for Porto, and when he left them he very nearly signed for AC Milan only for a strange medical to put an end to the move.  The testing turned up a problem with his teeth that can symbolise potential spine problems.  Milan's loss was Lyon's gain as they shelled out €15million for the left back.


He is noted for being strong, quick, a good header of a ball, as well as having excellent stamina, in a nut shell he is everything that Aleksandar Kolarov isn't.  I recently wrote about how I felt we needed a left back as a priority and that is why I was so pleased to see this story in the press.  Whether there is any truth in it remains to be seen, the Mail reckon we are weighing up an offer of £20million, so he wouldn't come cheap, but if we can move on Jerome Boateng for something close to the £15million mark it may not be such a bad piece of business.

Clearly he is a good age, and has plenty to learn but I think he has all the raw physical assets needed to make it in the Premier League, I personally think he would be a better option than Leighton Baines who would no doubt cost more and probably not be as impressive.


As with all these stories, I feel it right to make it clear that this is probably a load of old tosh, but if it's true, and if this one came off I for one would be pretty satisfied with the deal.  Now let me check the latest on the Sanchez story again.....

Is Jerome Boateng Becoming A Forgotten Man?

Last Summer was a really exciting transfer window for all Manchester City fans, the massive signings of players such as Silva and Toure suggested that a great season was on the way, and it certainly turned out to be that.  It is strange to now look back though and think that Jerome Boateng was one of the signings that I was most excited about.

There were murmurings about his arrival before the previous season had ended, and it seemed to be a dead cert that he would be a City player evetually.  The deal made sense in many ways, a young versatile, athletic defender who wasn't overly expensive, paying around £10million for the 22 year old seemed like good business.  Expectations raised even further when he went off to the World Cup, and playing in one of his unfavored positions, left back, he did really well.

I suppose in many ways his career highlight at City was that pre-season friendly against Valencia when he laid on a goal for Gareth Barry after a fantastic surging run down the right wing.  Things quickly went down hill, he injured his knee in a freak accident involving a drinks trolley, and when he finally returned to fitness his form was patchy to say the least.

Despite making 24 appearances in all competitions he has failed to impress, and due to injury and lack of form he has began to become the forgotten man.  Personally I am guilty of criticising Boateng, it is fair to say he has taken a long time to adjust to English football and he is still working on that, but there is clearly talent there.

Reports continue to circulate suggesting that he could be ready for a swift return to German, and Bayern Munich to be precise.  The stumbling block seems to be the price, with City holding out for around £17million to consider selling the player, a figure which would represent a fine bit of business, but I think that would be a massive mistake.

My defense of Boateng is pretty straight forward really, firstly he is only 22, and he is still learning his trade, at that age players need time to develop in their own country, let alone abroad.  The next crucial factor is that he has been forced to play out of position for the vast majority of his career at Eastlands, I will hold my hands up and say that I don't think he will ever be a world class full back, but when he has played at centre back on the odd occasion, I think he has looked a lot more composed.  Injuries have also had a massive effect on the player, there can't have been many points in the season where he has been fully fit, and he has never really had a long run of games in his favoured position. 

Essentially I think it is far too early to judge the player, he may be forgotten at the moment, but I think if we stick with him for another season and use him in his favoured position he could turn into a fine asset for this football club.