Gael Clichy's Manchester City U-Turn

Gael Clichy may have some explaining to do when he arrives on the Manchester City training field in the coming weeks. Arsenal have agreed to sell the French left back for around £9 million to the blue Manchester club, but Arsenal fans may be asking themselves - why did Clichy leave?

Many would answer with the simple fact that Clichy will be earning a lot more money - reportedly £110,000 per week. But this surely cannot be! It was only this time two years ago when his fellow Arsenal team mate, Emmanuel Adebayor decided to leave the Emirates for Manchester City, citing abusive Arsenal fans as his reason to go. At the time, Clichy was having none of that excuse. The 25 year-old defender said:

"I really believe if you are a player who thinks only about money then you could end up at Manchester City." 

"You have to think if you want to play for a big club and have your image or if you want to play for a good club and earn big money." 

"When you ask someone to move for something like £300,000 a week it is just crazy."

At Arsenal, Clichy was getting paid £58,000 a week, and now he has a contract of around £50,000 more than that. Perhaps he has suddenly has a mass rethink about why Adebayor left for City in 2009, which saw him get paid £150,000 per week? Or perhaps Clichy decided that if he can' beat them, he may as well join them, and earn a massive amount more while he's at it.

I'm sure that Clichy will declare in the coming days what a fantastic new project he has joined, and how he is excited to win some trophies at last - trophies he didn't win at Arsenal. I'm sure he will tell everyone that he didn't join for the money, but the ambition. But can he be taken seriously? He has no loyalty to Arsenal, nor does he have any loyalty for Manchester City - money on the other hand... money talks.

Follow Me on Twitter @DBSFootball

Manchester City Striker wants to leave in January

Frustrated Figure: Santa Cruz

Competition for first team places are tough to come by nowadays at Manchester City, as Roberto Mancini, backed by the billionaire owners, has always got his sights on new, top quality players to add to the already talented team.

This competition however, is proving too tough for Roque Santa Cruz, as he told a radio station that his intention is to leave Manchester City in January because of the lack of first team opportunities.
The South American striker said:

"Unfortunately I'm not playing as I'd like. The club has invested heavily, competition for places is great and I'm working every day to try and convince the coach ... but I'm still not getting picked. The situation is very complicated, I wanted to think well of it, but I'm not getting the playing time to convince anybody and my priority is to leave in the January transfer market.

"The coach has opted for certain players and on top of that his system plays with just the one striker, so I have even fewer options.

"I'm 29 years old and still hope to fulfill my dream of playing in Spain. It is the dream of most South American players, so let's see, hopefully it will happen. I wanted to play again because I'm not getting playing time here. My intention is to leave City in the January transfer window and I hope that it could be for the Spanish League."

Since joining the club in 2009 for a fee of around £17.5 million from Blackburn, the former Bayern Munich star hasn't really been able to hold on to a first team place, and his form has suffered, thanks in no small part to injuries.

At 29 years of age he won't fetch much money in the transfer window. His lack of form has reduced the asking price considerably, and it doesn't seem likely that City will make a profit from him.
With billions of pounds to spend on a new replacement, and with strikers like Tevez, Adebayor, Balotelli and Jo still at the club, it also doesn't seem likely that the Eastlands club will miss him.