Buzzin Football Blog

Another defeat for Mark Hughes and Man City last Saturday, this time at home to an Everton side without a recognised striker, must be causing the Manchester City owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Abu Dhabi United group, big concerns.

And with a reported open cheque book to buy any players he desires in the forthcoming January transfer window, the pressure will be on Mark Hughes to have a strong finish to the Premier League season.

But building a World XI team in the form of basketball legends the Harlem Globetrotters may not be the route to success.  The best eleven players in the world might make a good advert of Coca-Cola but Hughes knows he will have to buy the right players and build a team spirit, if Man City are going to seriously challenge for the Premiership and European honours.

Starting in January Mark Hughes will need to consider who is actually available and how they will fit into the team.  For an immediate improvement and to hit the ground running I would assume Mark Hughes will want to buy players that have proven they can play in the Premiership.  I also think with a couple of quality strikers to add to the likes of Robinho, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Elano and Stephen Ireland, Manchester City as an attacking force, will be complete.

If the likes of Liverpool, AC Milan and Barcelona are not tempted by ridiculous sums of money for their star players Torres, Kaka and Messi then maybe Emille Heskey and a fit Michael Owen to rekindle their successful England strike force in the sky blue of Manchester will be the right solution for Premier League success.  Though I do believe Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz is definitely on Mark Hughes shopping list.

Manchester City also need to strengthen the rest of their spine.  A goalkeeper, reliable central defender, a defensive midfielder and an midfield general will strengthen Man City as a solid unit.

Top seasoned continental goalkeepers have already been mentioned, and the Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon appears to be a favourite.  If he isn’t available I believe Robert Green will be avaialble to the highest bidder.

With West Ham’s Icelandic owners set to sell players for cash, I believe Matthew Upson will be the target of a few Premier League clubs and will be a good buy for Hughes.

As for the defensive midfielder,  Manchester City need a Claude Makele or Robbie Savage type of player to break up the play.  Chelsea have John Obi Mikele and Michael Essien, Liverpool have Alonso and Mascherano, and Manchester United have Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes.  I think maybe Gareth Barry would be a good January transfer target or what about the return of Joey Barton?

As for a midfield general, a playmaker in the shape of Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard?  Apparently there is interest in Portsmouth’s Lassana Diarra.  Diarra started to show his real talent under Harry Redknapp last season, though wasn’t convincing in his short spells with Chelsea and Arsenal.  This position, more than the others, is where silly money needs to buy one of the best players in the world.

There are so many of the world’s top players currently linked with a January transfer window move to Manchester City I just can’t wait to see what actually happens.  If its anything like the final day of the summer transfer window, where Man City outbid Chelsea for Robinho and attempted to upstage Manchester United to sign Dimitar Berbatov then it will be the most exciting thing to happen to English football since Roman Abramovich first opened his cheque book at Chelsea.

In the current economic climate, and with many Premiership teams looking to cancel out their debt I think there may be some transfer surprises if Manchester City start offering ridiculous sums of money in an attempt to sign some of the best players already playing in the Premier League.