West Ham in the hunt for Benjani

By Edward Marange

Two games is a long time in football. Impressive performances by Zimbabwe national team captain and Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwari against Middlesbrough and Blackburn have seen his stock rise.

After scoring the only goal in the 1-0 FA Cup third round win against Middlesbrough and setting up 3 goals in the 4-1 league win against Blackburn, several clubs in England are sitting up and taking notice.

Fresh from being taken over by David Gold and David Sullivan relegation threatened West Ham United are the latest club to express an interest in Benjani who still has 6 months of his contract with City to go.

Hull City, Stoke City, Bolton and Benjani’s former club Portsmouth are the other clubs speculated to be interested in his services. With doubts still lingering over his fitness most are considering a loan move for him.

Two obstacles remain though for any club interested in Benjani. First the striker has himself expressed an interest in remaining at Eastland’s and fighting for his place and the recent injury to Roque Santa Cruz will mean manager Roberto Mancini might want to hold on to the Zimbabwean.

Brazilian Robinho has been out of sorts and thought to be on his way out and Emmanuel Adebayor is still recovering from his machine gun horror at the African Cup of Nations in Angola. This leaves Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy as City’s only other strike options. Nehanda Radio

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