Stoke City Want to Sign Benjani

By Robson Sharuko

ZIMBABWE international striker Benjani Mwaruwari is being targeted by English Premiership side Stoke City who have put together a £5m bid to try and secure his services from Manchester City who are battling to assemble an all-star forward line-up.

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis believes the 30-year-old Warriors skipper could provide the firepower that his side — which finished 12th in the Premiership last season — badly needs if they are going to do better in the forthcoming campaign.

English tabloid The Daily Star revealed that Pulis was persuaded to try and sign Benjani by Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp — the man who managed the Zimbabwean forward during their time at Portsmouth.

Although Pulis knows that Stoke City does not have the same profile as Manchester City, he is dangling a carrot — the chance to play regular Premiership football — which he believes could persuade Benjani to join The Potteries.

He is also clinging on a gamble that Benjani could be one of the players that could be put on the transfer-list by Manchester City as they try to balance their squad following the arrival of some new players during the off-season.

Even if Benjani stays at Eastlands, Pulis believes the striker’s appearances at Manchester City will be limited following the arrival of Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers — and the expected arrivals of Cameroon forward Samuel Eto’o from Barcelona and Argentine striker Carlos Tevez.

Cash-rich Manchester City, backed by the billions of their Arab owners, are trying to secure the services of Eto’o and Tevez who turned down an offer to remain at Manchester United because he believed the Red Devils had not treated him with a lot of respect.

Manchester City splashed £17m to buy Santa Cruz and reunite the Paraguayan striker with his former manager at Blackburn Rovers — Mark Hughes.

Club chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak revealed last month that he has targeted six new players to boost his team this summer and, with Gareth Barry and Santa Cruz already signed, four high-profile names could be on the way.

Barry, the England midfielder who almost joined Liverpool last season, was signed from Aston Villa.

Al Mubarak told Abu Dhabi English language paper, The National, that his club will also reduce the size of their playing personnel — a statement that Pulis believes provides a window of opportunity for him in his bid to secure the services of Benjani.

“We will shrink our squad and add four to six players,” said Al Mubarak.

“Key for us is that we trust Mark Hughes and any acquisition is based on his view. But I’m frustrated that people assume we are going to throw crazy money at deals, that we won’t understand true values and we can’t negotiate or get value for a player.

“We’ve had numbers thrown at us that are a joke.

“There are situations where a £10million player will be offered to us for a ‘City price’ of £20million. We just leave because at that point there’s no point arguing — if people are throwing crazy numbers at us, fine, deals won’t be done.

“Look at (City owner) Sheikh Mansour. He’s a very shrewd businessman who has conducted himself in a professional way. I will defend the value of every deal we have done.

“Look at our Robinho deal. If he went in this transfer window for the same price it would be a steal.

“Our deals to date presented fair value to the clubs we brought them from, fair value to us and are typical of the type of deals we are looking to make.”

Manchester City are expected to sign Eto’o even though Barca have offer the Cameroon international a new three-year deal.

Barca president Joan Laporta told Catalan radio station iCat FM: “Eto’o has a stratospheric offer from City, which would convert him into the best paid player in the world.

“It’s starting to become clear that he has this monster offer. He wants to stay, but an offer like this is very difficult to refuse.

“If Eto’o accepts this stratospheric offer we will have to bring in someone else.”

Eto’o’s agent Josep Maria Mesalles’ recent statements also appear to suggest that the striker could be on his way out of Barcelona.

“We have had two meetings with the club and they have told us both times that Samuel is not in their plans for next season,” he said.

“Laporta has come out several times and said that Samuel is demanding huge quantities of money, but that is absolutely false.

“We have not asked Barcelona for one cent this year and so to say he is asking for all that money is completely untrue.

“I don’t know if they made the offer because they want him to stay or because they want to make money. They want 30 to 35 million euros from his sale and that is unrealistic.

“He has one year left on his contract and they are asking for too much, especially in a year when he would play the African Cup of Nations and then the World Cup in the summer.”

Mesalles confirmed that City have offered 25 million euros and says his client may yet sign for the Premier League club.

“Samuel is very disappointed with Barcelona,” Mesalles continued.

“If we find out for sure that they don’t want him, then we will do our best to find him another club and Manchester City would be a good option.

“There are only about six or seven clubs out there who could afford Samuel, but Manchester City is one and they are a serious club.

“In theory he wants to play in the Champions League, but if Manchester City have an offer accepted, we would be delighted to go there,” he said.

Robinho has already publicly stated that he would like Eto’o to join him at Manchester City.

Benjani still has a year left on his contract at Eastlands and spent the better part of last season battling against injuries.

He was signed by Sven-Goran Erikson, during his spell as Manchester City boss, and although his time at Eastlands has been hampered by injuries, he remains a favourite with the fans who warmed up to his industry and commitment to the club’s cause.

Benjani became a hero for Manchester City when he scored the winner against bitter city rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.

While both Eastlands and the Theatre of Dreams might be fashionable grounds when compared to the Brittania Stadium, the home ground of Stoke City, the Potteries have a rich football history.

Founded in 1863, they are the oldest football club still active in the English game and in the 1930s, they introduced to the world a gifted winger called Stanley Matthews who would rise to become one of the greatest players of all-time.

Other great players to wear the Stoke City shirt include England’s World Cup winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks, legendary goalkeeper Peter Shilton, fullback Lee Dixon and 1966 World Cup final hattrick hero Geoff Hurst.

Stoke City also have a passionate support base and a Sky television research showed that the club has the loudest fan base during its home matches in the Premiership.

Spurs were second and Liverpool third.

While the boardroom battles for his signature gather momentum, Benjani remains unfazed and is focussed on playing for Manchester City in the forthcoming season.

The striker returned to England ahead of Manchester City’s trip to South Africa for the Vodacom Challenge where they will play Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Source: The Herald

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