Football clubs these days are like serial cat burglars. No sooner have they climbed out of one transfer window, than their itchy fingers are scrabbling to open the next one.
City are no different, although their more sober approach to the last two windows has lost them their undisputed title as kings of the football shopping spree.
With just 76 days to go before the market madness begins all over again, the Blues are already busy identifying possible targets, analysing their own weaknesses, and working out the financial implications.
Of course, they will play their cards close to their chest, and a winter window is not the ideal time to bring in players, unless you are desperate – which City clearly are not.
But this will be the first opportunity for new chief executive Ferran Soriano to exercise his nous in the transfer market, should Roberto Mancini deem it necessary to reinforce his squad of champions.
There have been restless hints from the manager that he DOES feel his squad are not quite where they need to be, especially after sobering matches against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Indeed, after Mario Balotelli’s late penalty had rescued an ill-deserved point against the German champions, Mancini’s utterings were dark and foreboding.
“I know the problem and I will resolve this problem very quickly,” he said, leaving the world to speculate whether he saw it as an attitude deficiency, a tactical flaw or a matter of a player or players not being up to the job.
The season is at an early stage, and the players who did come in during that late flurry of activity at the end of August have barely had time to get their feet under the table.
But early impressions are the Blues have been treading water, rather than making waves.
Rivals Chelsea beefed up considerably, making major signings in the shape of Eden Hazard – who was also wanted by City – Oscar, Marko Morin and Victor Moses, while United also pipped the Blues to a marquee signing in Robin van Persie.
City’s incoming business was modest by comparison, and appears to have left them in no better shape than they were in when lifting the Premier League trophy in May.
The biggest signing was Javi Garcia from Benfica, and his debut at Stoke gave hope that the Blues had uncovered a major talent.
Bagged
Not only did he show all the aggression and nous of Nigel de Jong, for whom he was virtually a direct replacement, he also bagged the equalising goal and nearly scored the winner.
It appeared the Blues had replaced de Jong with a player who also had an attacking side to his game.
Since the adrenalin rush of that day at the Britannia Stadium, Garcia has quietly been bedding in, and some City fans have been ruing the absence of de Jong’s discipline, not least in the two disappointing European games.
Of course, it would be unfair to judge Garcia so quickly, and he might well be an improvement on the popular Dutchman in the long run.
But Mancini wanted Daniele de Rossi or Javi Martinez to really stock up his central midfield, an area where he felt his team was lacking throughout last season.
Neither came off, with de Rossi eventually penning a new deal with his beloved Roma and Martinez heading for Bayern Munich. Instead, City invested in the future by picking up Jack Rodwell from Everton.
Undoubtedly a promising talent, but he has had a rocky start to his career at the Etihad Stadium, gifting Southampton a goal on his debut and sloppily doing the same against Dortmund in his first Champions League appearance.
The fears that he also appeared injury-prone in his time at Everton have also reared their head again.
He pulled up in the warm-up ahead of the Capital One Cup tie against Aston Villa with a groin problem and, more worryingly, has been sent home by England under-21s with a hamstring problem.
His days at Everton were dogged by hamstring troubles which saw him packed off to see a German specialist after six recurrences of the problem.
The prospect of him stepping into Yaya Toure’s enormous boots when the Ivorian heads off to the African Cup of Nations in January is not feasible at the moment. Of course, the lad has talent and could win everyone over in the intervening 10 weeks.
But Mancini knows the six weeks or so in which Yaya is away could make or break City’s season.
And with news of de Rossi’s unhappiness emanating out of Rome, and talk that the Serie A side are looking for a January sale to ease a £48m loss in the last financial year, the Italy international could be back on the agenda.
De Rossi has clashed with new manager Zdenek Zeman after being dropped, and much has been made of the fact that Zeman signed two players who play in his central position, Michael Bradley and Panagiotis Tachtsidis.
De Rossi had said that his previous manager Luis Enrique had been ‘fundamental’ in the 29-year-old’s decision to turn down City’s advances and sign a new five-year deal last February.
There are even rumours that Zeman and the Roma board are plotting to unsettle de Rossi, in order to sell him and at least halve their financial loss.
Mancini would certainly be interested in a potential deal, but Soriano will refuse to pay over the odds.
Mancini was also intent on improving on his four strikers in the summer, hence the pursuit of van Persie and strong interest in Edinson Cavani.
Edin Dzeko, despite being City’s top scorer, and coming up with important goals already this season, as he did last, still flatters to deceive at times – and he was dreadful against Dortmund.
Mancini delayed his usual short break in Italy during the current international break to take in Atletico Madrid’s clash with Malaga nine days ago, and there are claims he was sitting alongside Jorge Mendes, who is the agent of Atletico’s brilliant Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.
Storm
Falcao scored to maintain his position as joint top scorer in La Liga – alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, no less – and spark a storm of speculation that City will fight it out with Chelsea in January for his signature.
But Mancini also ran the rule over Isco, Malaga’s precocious 20-year-old striker, who fits City’s profile perfectly.
Italian sources also continue to link City with Fiorentina’s excellent 22-year-old Montenegrin Stevan Jovetic, who the Italian club are resigned to losing but hope to hold until next summer.
One attraction of all of the players mentioned is that they would all be available for the knock-out stages of the Champions League, should City progress, as none of their clubs has been involved in the competition this season.
City won’t be spending big in the January transfer window, but should de Rossi become available, or one of the strikers is dangled for a reasonable fee, they will almost certainly bite.
By Stuart Brennan
