£25m perhaps?
Manchester City set to enter race to sign £50 Million hit man
According to the Spanish media, Manchester City are set to enter the race to sign Franck Ribery putting themselves head to head with local rivals Manchester United. Yesterday we reported that Man Utd were ready to offer £50 Million to land Ribery based on reports out of Spain and now AS the Spanish football daily have added Roberto Mancini’s side to the list of suitors for the French International.
Ribery has been the subject of much speculation with his contract running out next season and even though the Bayern Munich Chairman Karl Heinz Rummenigge has again stated that Ribery is going nowhere the probability is that he is.
Bayern will have to make a decision and fast, AS reports that both Real Madrid and Barcelona have dropped out of the race due to Ribery’s personal life and that will now force the price down, he was only ever going to be worth £50 Million in the event of an auction and that possibility is starting to dwindle.
Manchester City cannot offer Ribery Champions League football while Man Utd can and that could be a deciding factor, however it is now reported that in the absence of bids from Real Madrid and Barcelona that Sir Alex Ferguson the Man Utd manager will reevaluate his offer which in turn could let the Eastlands outfit in, confusing I know.
Mancini has a bucket load of cash to spend, problem is the big stars have to date shown zero interest in the Man City project, they cannot offer Champions League and with competition so fierce in the Premiership for Champions League qualification it is still considered taking a chance signing with City and in fact there are already rumblings in Manchester with speculation rife that the one world class talent that Man City do posses, Carlos Tevez is about to leave.
Signing Ribery would represent a coup for Mancini and it would also send out a signal to other elite players that by joining Manchester City you will be playing alongside players of the calibre of Franck Ribery.
A potent message indeed.