Mariga deal falls through.....and Inter nip in

One deal that was expected to be a 'sure thing' today ended in frustrastion as McDonald Mariga slipped through our grasp and ended up signing for Inter in a co-ownership agreement with his current club Parma.

It appears as though a deal was agreed in principle, but as I anticipated a couple of days ago we ran into problems attaining a work permit for the Kenyan:

Mariga, who has 24 caps, met part of the UK criteria after playing in 75% of Kenya's games in the last two years.

But his application was rejected as Kenya are ranked 98th in Fifa's world rankings, outside the top 70 nations.

City attended an appeal at Wembley on Monday morning but failed to overturn the decision about the 22-year-old.

A further appeal could have been lodged but would have meant a deal could not have been completed until the next transfer window.

Frustration I'm sure then turned to exasperation as later in the day it was announced that Mariga had signed for Inter, who had also coveted the player:

McDonald Mariga has officially signed for Inter as they agreed a £4m co-ownership deal with Parma.

The Kenya born midfielder was very close to a move to Manchester City in the past few days but negotiations didn't go ahead due to visa problems.

Unfortunately, Mariga has paid the price for having Kenyan nationality and it is something seen before where a player meets all the relevant criteria to be awarded a work permit, with the exception of being eligible for a side in the top 70 ranked countries in the world.

Whilst the overwhelming majority had never seen Mariga play, the comments left on here certainly suggest a player with immense potential and indicate him as a player who could have had a big future with us.

Mariga deal reported

Not one that has garned much attention amongst the bigger players in the media, but hat tip to Blue Days for bringing this one to attention.

It is being reported both on calcionews24.com and allafrica.com that we have agreed to a 10 million Euro deal to sign Parma's Kenyan international midfielder McDonald Mariga:

Parma have accepted a E10 million offer (about Sh722 million) from Manchester City for Kenyan international McDonald Mariga, according to reports from Italy and England.

Mariga had been linked with Italian champions Inter but Parma sporting director, Pietro Leonardi, apparently met with City on Thursday.

He was able to convince the English club over 22-year-old Mariga's E10m fee during a series of talks which untangled the move.

"Once the transfer is compelete, Mariga will become Kenya's richest sportsman and the first ever to play in the English Premier League.

City turned to Mariga after seeing negotiations stall with Real Madrid in their attempts to sign Fernando Gago. City were ready to bid £6million for Mariga, according to reports in Italy, and could offer Valeri Bojinov as part of the deal.

Interesting stuff and a move (if true) that has flown completely under the radar. From his bio on wikipedia it seems he is a tall, rangy midfielder who spent time in Sweden before his move to Parma.

One potential hitch with a deal could be his Kenyan nationality, which given their lowly standing in the world game may impact on the possibility of a work permit being granted.

If anyone knows anything further about him though please leave a comment below.

UPDATE: The Bluemoon twitter feed is also suggesting that the deal will go through.