Bojinov keen on Italy stay

Out of sight, out of mind he may be but Valeri Bojinov is impressing nonetheless during the 2009/10 season.

Faced with the prospect of little playing time after almost two full seasons blighted by injury, he joined Parma - who returned to Serie A at the first attempt - on the eve of the season and has played a full part in their surprising run that sees them currently in third place in the table.

Obviously revelling in being back on the field and it has again been reported that his preference is to remain in Italy beyond this season:

"Parma was my opportunity, I thank the chairman (Tommaso) Ghirardi, sporting director (Pietro) Leonardi, (Francesco) Guidolin and also (Cesare) Prandelli, who put in a good word for me."

Like many, I'd hoped that Bojinov's departure was not a permanent one, and that a season of regular football under his built could see him return to us next summer to re-start his City career. However, it is apparant that his time with us is all but over and the expectation is that his current move will ultimately be made permanent.

Bojinov joins Parma

Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov is back in Serie A after joining newly-promoted Parma on loan.

The 23-year-old Bulgaria international endured an injury-hit spell at Eastlands, making just three Premier League starts in two years.

Bojinov did look a talented prospect when fit, but the summer arrivals of three big name strikers means his playing time would have been severely limited next season.

>>skysports.com

We are seeing more of these types of deal, where a loan is mutually beneficial to both sides.

Clearly his opportunities would have been limited during 2009/10, and the likelihood is that he is not entirely fully fit following his injuries.

From watching him during his time in Serie A, he is an absolute bull of a player so it is something of a surprise that he has been so fragile during his time with us, especially given how innocuous his injuries were.

I'm pleased this is a loan deal as it does still leave the opportunity for him to put his injury woes behind him, kick-start his career and return fully fit next summer. With a Parma side returning to Serie A and lacking strikers he should see plenty of action and the hope his he can get 25-30 games under his belt.

Bojinov set for Serie A return

Another story beginning to be widely reported this lunchtime is one that Valeri Bojinov is set to move back to Serie A with newly promoted Parma, with Bojinov's agent commenting:

"If City should be ready to release Valeri on loan, as I know they categorically ruled out a permanent sale, then the most logical solution would be Italy.

"He has received offers from Spain and Germany, but Valeri feels that he is Italian and would have no problems settling in."

Interesting that it may be a loan though rather than a permanent deal. If this was the case, I imagine we would be on the hook for the majority of his wage.

Bulgarians remain key parts of the squad

Firstly Petrov:

"I think he will be staying at City, he has a contract with them," Franco Moretti, Petrov's agent, is reported as saying by Sky Sports.

"I think he will stay at Eastlands for sure, because the coach (Mark Hughes) is staying there.

"He is a big fan, so he will definitely stay at City."

And Bojinov:

"I do not know if they sent someone. Anyway, Manchester City have assured me that he remains a key part of their squad.

"He has been very unfortunate with injury, but they intend to continue the working relationship and have no plans to part."

It will be interesting to see quite what role either will have during 2009/10, as the attacking aspects and make up of our squad do look well stocked, and will become even more congested if reported moves for Tevez and Santa Cruz (and others?) materialise.

A key theme with both statements though is the apparant backing for both players by Hughes as being important members of the squad, and perhaps this is the summer where for the first time we go to having a true squad of 18-22 first team players who can fit into different sides and formations.

Bojinov ruled out

Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov is out with a hamstring problem and has gone to Munich for treatment, while Hertha Berlin have refused to release Valeri Domovchiyski for duty on the basis that he was not called up in time under FIFA regulations.

>>irish independent.

Let's hope this is nothing more than a minor injury, likely a natural reaction to playing again after being out for so long.

Bojinov called up to Bulgaria squad

Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov has been recalled to the Bulgaria squad for their World Cup qualifiers with Republic of Ireland and Cyrpus.

>>skysports.com

Of course it is great to see him back and this is a big reward for all of his dedication and persistence in returning to action.

It is a danger though (as we saw with Martin Petrov) with players going off for international duty, likely playing ninety-minutes, when we are bringing them back slowly into action and given his history there is a real worry that he could break down.

Looking at the UEFA draw that was made earlier today, what is seeming an stranger decision by the game is quite why he was ommitted from our UEFA squad.

Bellamy blow

CITY striker Craig Bellamy is set for at least three weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury sustained against West Ham.

Welsh international striker Bellamy, who has been in a rich vein of scoring form since his January move to Eastlands, has suffered a new knee injury - not a recurrence of an old problem - but is having more scans.

>>MEN.

A definite blow given the very impressive start he has made to his City career.

With Robinho likely ruled out for the Villa game it does leave us very light up front. Despite his return on Sunday though, you hope that sense prevails and that Valeri Bojinov is not rushed back into the starting line up ahead of schedule.

Bojinov heading back

"We expect Boj back before the end of the season but if anyone is asking me exactly when I could not say with any certainty," revealed assistant boss Mark Bowen.

"He is out on the training ground now working hard with the sports science department and he seems to be improving every day."

>>MEN.

Whilst some are no doubt expecting Bojinov to be back in contention in the New Year, far more likely will be the 'softly softly' approach - particularly so if reinforcements are brought in to the club in January.

Positive news, and hopefully will come the day when us City bloggers can stop simply just talking about how good he is.

Bojinov begins the long road back

Mark Hughes has revealed that Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov is back at Carrington and ready to start on the road to recovery following his Achilles tendon injury.

It was a cruel blow for the 22-year-old when he suffered the injury in the warm up ahead of the opening day defeat at Aston Villa.

But today Hughes told mcfc.co.uk: “He’s back with us now and will be starting his rehabilitation in earnest.

“He was showing everybody his scar yesterday like a war wound. I’ve seen scars from that type of injury before and they looked a lot angrier than Valeri’s does.

“It looks excellent in fairness and we’re very hopeful given where the tendon snapped. If there is a good place it was the optimum position, right in the middle, so the prognosis is really good for him.”

>>mcfc.co.uk

Apparantly he was immense during his last rehab so here's hoping that this one is as successful as that.

It was a great shame that he missed virtually all of last season as I thought he would have been a great asset to the side - and may well have made more of a success out of Bianchi.

This pre-season he was beginning to look sharp and it was so unfortunate that he once again went down, but by all accounts the injury was the 'best' it could have been in terms of healing.

I've been a big fan of his since his early days in Serie A and was so looking forward to him in our line-up this season - and with the arrival of Robinho and Wright-Phillips even more so.

Here's hoping 2009 can herald better fortune for Bojinov and we can finally get to see the best of him.

Bojinov returns with a goal

Valeri Bojinov returned to action after his long injury lay-off in the reserves' 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Thursday night.

The Reds went 2-0 up thanks to a first-half brace from Jordy Brouwer, but Bojinov, a 69th minute substitute, went very close just seconds after coming on and then played a big part in City's goal 12 minutes from the end.

>>mcfc.co.uk

Great to see Bojinov finally return to action in what was a very young looking reserve side, and although it is too late for this season he should be at full tilt come pre-season time.

Whilst Sven has stuck faithfully to the 4-5-1 this campaing - at times painfully so, you do wonder if this was enforced on him largely because of Bojinov's injury so early in the season which scuppered his chances of fielding the right balance in a 4-4-2, which I think Bojinov would have been an integral feature of.

Should be interesting to see how it lines up next season.

Bojinov and Johnson return to action

Valeri Bojinov has marked his return to action with a goal as City's reserves held Newcastle at St James Park.

The Bulgarian striker has been out of action since sustaining a cruciate ligament injury just six minutes into his first start for the Blues against Manchester United last August. However after coming on as a second-half substitute gave the Blues a deserved equaliser in the first Barclays Premier Reserve League fixture since
December.

The summer signing from Fiorentina was on the bench to start with as City looked to give some first team squad members some valuable match practice with a two week gap in the Premier League fixture list looming. Michael Johnson started his first game since the Carling Cup tie against Spurs in December, the teenager having been hampered by a niggling abdominal injury.

>>mcfc.co.uk

Bearing in mind we are now on a fortnights break until the Everton game, hopefully both players will see some further action between now and then.

Johnson will clearly be closer to a return, and will be a big boost to us, but personally, I am looking forward to seeing Bojinov feature in the current side and given the length of time they have both been absent for, they will certainly come back fresh as we head towards the final, crucial stage of the season.

Bojinov set to return

Valeri Bojinov is continuing to make good progress in his recovery from the knee injury he suffered in August's derby.

The Bulgarian striker, signed from Fiorentina in the summer, was stretchered off after just six minutes of his first starting appearance for the Blues with cruciate ligament damage sustained when he landed awkwardly from an aerial challenge.

Surgery on the injury was a success, and City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has given an update on the situation with the 21-year-old.

"The latest is that I have seen the report from the doctor who operated on him in Rome, and it looks very good.

"You never know with such a big operation, but if everything goes as we hope he might be back in light training in late November or early December.

"So far it looks very good, but you can’t rush a player after an operation like that, so it’s very important that you don’t start too early." -mcfc.co.uk

Round up - and look back.

A couple of items not covered this week include Micah Richards apparently on the verge of signing a new long term contract. He's a busy lad as he has also found time to start a column on the BBC website, perhaps underlining his growing reputation in the game.

In other news Valeri Bojinov has returned to the club after having surgery abroad. He has stated he aims to be back much sooner than the expected 5 months and is aiming for just after Christmas.

Two stories resurfaced firstly Sven spoke on Mark Bresciano, stating he remains a target. The sun then ran a story stating we were looking at taking Juan Riquemele on loan, not sure about that one as good a player as he is, a midfield creator is not our main priority and secondly could he even be signed on loan ?

Finally a belated happy birthday to Malcolm Allison who turned 80 this week, and looking book through youtube i came across this page , i urge all fellow blues to take a peek your bound to find one of your favourite games , and to the author keep up the good work.

Bojinov blow

VALERI Bojinov will not play again this year after
suffering knee damage in the derby day win over United.The 21-year-old Bulgarian
fell awkwardly after a challenge with Patrice Eva and was stretchered off after
just five minutes following his surprise inclusion in the starting
line-up.Hospital scans showed damage to the cruciate ligaments and specialists
believe it will be the New Year before the striker returns to training.Bojinov,
who has only played 47 minutes football since his £6m switch from Fiorentina
last month, will return to Italy for treatment.

-MEN.

A real shame this as from the brief look at him this season he does look a good player, and from seeing him in Serie A on occasions he does have talent.

It is likey he won't be fully fit for some time after returning to full training so it is conceivable he could miss upto three-quarters of the season, perhaps prompting Eriksson into the transfer market.

The difficulty being though, unless he has specific targets on his radar it may be tough to get someone in just over a week - particularly with teams knowing we are in the market, and the fact that we are unlikely to be the only ones in the hunt for strikers.

Duo granted work permit

Recent signings Valeri Bojinov and Vedran Corluka have this
afternoon been granted work permits in order to be registered for the
Club.
Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, together with other club representatives,
attended the successful hearing earlier today so that the Bulgarian striker and
Croatian defender can now apply for international clearance.
Sven said: “We
are talking about two extremely good footballers of enormous quality, and I’m
delighted that the permits have been granted.”
Also, Brazilian midfielder
Elano already has his work permit and is hopeful of receiving international
clearance in time to be available for the season-opener at Upton Park.

-mcfc.co.uk

It is unclear whether either Bojinov or Corluka will be ready in time though for the West Ham game, and it also looks unlikely that either Mark Bresciano (despite him training with us) or a new 'keeper will arrive before the season opener.

Manchester City buy - erm everybody !

Triple signing news !!!! (how long have i waited to say that)

In Chronological order :

Javi Garrido - 22 yr old left back from Real Sociedads

Verdan Corluka - Centre/Right Back from Dinamo Zagreb

Elano - Midfielder 8million from Skaktar Dontesk - hailed by Dunga 'the symbol of the new brazil'

Official Site keep pressing refresh Valeri Bojinov is bound to pop up in a minute or two.

Strange feeling of excitement a bit of giddyness , this is all very un-city like. Fortunately im on holiday next week and will come back to Warnock in charge or something like that and feel a bit more normal ??

Viva La Sven !

Update:

Valeri Bojinov talks about his move here ("I'm disappointed but life goes on") and here ("I'd like to thank Mr Eriksson for this transfer"), and the official City site rounds up what was surely the busiest day news wise we have had for sometime.

Profiles of the new arrivals are over at purelymancity.com

Bojinov arrives, more to follow

Fiorentina striker Valeri Bojinov has reportedly joined
Manchester City in a deal worth around £5m.The Bulgarian hitman has been
unsettled since the arrival of Christian Vieri at the Stadio Artemio Franchi
which left him unlikely to make many appearances in the coming campaign.Ex-Lazio
boss Sven Goran Eriksson’s raid on Serie A continues having already signed
Rolando Bianchi from Reggina this summer and allegedly tabled a £7m offer for
Juventus’ Giorgio Chiellini.It is believed that the Sky Blues have upped their
offer by around £1m to reach an agreement with the Viola with Bojinov receiving
around £1m per season for four years."I have to thank Eriksson who insisted on
signing me," the 21-year-old told Fiorentinanews.it. "This is a great chance for
me."I want to also thank the fans at Lecce, Fiorentina and Juventus, but after
everything that has happened in Italy I think it's best to go abroad."

-channel4.co.uk

Big day for rumoured signings with Elano and Corluka also heavily linked, but so far Bojinov appears the only confirmed one (although not in the English media but Fiorentina's site is covering it).

If, as Mr Banks suggested to me today, the new signings will be paraded signing the obligatory contract on the pitch before the Valencia game, it is shaping up to be a very long table indeed.