By MEN City reporter Chris Bailey
1/ 2/2008
CITY fans should not lament the failed Benjani deal.
It is blindingly obvious that they need someone who can lead the line and find the back of the net with some regularity but not at any price and under terms with which they are not completely happy. Better to wait than regret later.
From the moment it was mooted that the Zimbabwe international was on his way to Eastlands it seemed from afar as though the Blues were being railroaded by Pompey, who wanted the money to buy someone better.
There was always the nagging doubt that it was a transfer that suited Harry Redknapp - who has this morning hinted that his club are still looking to push the unlikely deal through - and his club more than the Blues.
Despite his 12 goals - six of them in two games - Benjani was probably over-priced at double what Pompey paid for him, and it can be taken as read that his switch to the south coast from Auxerre was also not the smoothest, as it became one of the transfers investigated by the Stevens Report into corruption in football.
When a club is spending £8m on a player, it has every right to make sure the man is exactly what they want in terms of fitness and attitude.
It is also reasonable to expect that the player might be a little excited about the switch to pastures new.
The fact that Benjani is said to have missed two planes from Southampton to Manchester before arriving at the training ground 50 minutes before the transfer window closed hardly suggests someone desperate to pull on a blue shirt.
Having not been on an aircraft that took off at 3.15pm and 5pm surely the thought crossed the mind of the player and his representatives that they could drive to City in four hours and still have plenty of time to have the medical.
There is a feeling that there is more detail to emerge on this episode and that Eriksson may do better than Benjani next summer.
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