It just gets better

First we pinch Geovanni from under the nose of Harry Redknapp, then we beat Spurs to the signing of Martin Petrov.

The Independent claims the £4.7m (€7m) fee 'is likely to rise towards the £6m mark', which fits with the Sky Sports story on Wednesday that claimed Spurs had offered £6m (€9m).

You can see his career stats at Sky Stats Centre (listed under Atletico Madrid). They show that the 28-year-old Bulgarian has a career-total 55 goals in 253 league games, including 12 goals in 30 games in his last season at Wolfsburg in 04-05.


Petrov missed most of last season after suffering a knee ligament injury in October, but returned in April and played the last seven league games, scoring once.


I'm also trying to remember the last time we signed a naturally left-sided midfielder. Riera was the last one we brought to the club in January 2006, though he was only on loan. I think I'm right in saying that the last true left-winger we bought was Mark Kennedy, who was signed from Wimbledon for £1m in July 1999.

~ There's some more detail about Petrov at this Atletico Madrid blog, which rates the player very highly.

~ YouTube clips; Wikipedia; Sky news archive.

The most politically incorrect team ever?

News that City are to give trials to three Thai internationals made me curious about what football was like in Thailand.

A bit different from ours, it turns out.

This year's league winners are the gloriously-named Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, who play in a 2,500 capacity stadium. I suspect the team might not even be allowed to play in the UK, given the restrictions on tobacco advertising.

There's something of a gap in wages, too. One of the players coming for a trial at City, 25-year-old right back Suree Sukha, earns 30,000 baht a month at his club Chon Buri, which is just under £100-per-week