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Manchester City launch £50 million bid for Gianluigi Buffon

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the goal machine

the goal machine 7,801

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Manchester City's wealthy Arab owners have launched a world-record £50million bid to sign Gianluigi Buffon, widely regarded as the best goalkeeper on the planet. A delegation from the Barclays Premier League club travelled to Turin this month to discuss a possible transfer and, despite the protestations of Juventus, City firmly expect to secure a deal by making an offer that neither the goalkeeper nor his club can refuse.

Having broken the British transfer record by signing Robinho from Real Madrid for £34.2million on September 1, the day that they bought the club, City's owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, are fully prepared to do so again for Buffon. Any transfer fee for Buffon would surpass the £32.6 million that Juventus paid Parma for him in 2001 - and perhaps even rival the world-record figure of £48million that Real Madrid paid Juventus for Zinédine Zidane the same year.

City are prepared to pay whatever it takes - and that extends to wages, with Buffon to be offered £160,000 a week, the same figure that made Robinho the best-paid player in the Premier League when he arrived from Real.

When reports of City's interest surfaced in Italy yesterday, Claudio Ranieri, the Juventus coach, and Jean-Claude Blanc, the managing director, reacted with bemusement, but they are clearly unaware of how serious Sheikh Mansour and others are about the project. City sent a delegation to Turin this month to explore the feasibility of such a deal and, although they are not thought to have spoken to the player or his club directly, they believe that they could succeed in securing a deal for the 30-year-old either during the January transfer window or, failing that, next summer. City are also confident of signing Lassana Diarra, the Portsmouth midfield player, and Roque Santa Cruz, the Blackburn Rovers forward.

Mark Hughes, the City manager, is fully aware of the bid to sign Buffon and, despite his initial misgivings about the prospect of having big-name players imposed on him by the owners, is understood to be excited by the possibility of signing the Italy goalkeeper.

It is far from certain whether Hughes will admit as much if asked about Buffon after City's home match against Arsenal this afternoon, but he discussed the 30-year-old at length with Sheikh Mansour, the group's main financial backer, while in Abu Dhabi last week. Sheikh Mansour also approved Hughes's more prosaic targets, such as Diarra and Santa Cruz.

Ranieri was largely dismissive about City's interest in Buffon yesterday, but the goalkeeper, who is certain to be aware of their bid, appeared to hint at what may lie ahead in an interview with an Italian television station. “At the moment a move is not on the cards,” he said. “[but] if someone offers €50million to the club, I will be the first to tell the directors to sell me. I want the best for Juventus and with that amount they could reinforce the squad.” A fee of in the region of £50million would go more than halfway towards financing the construction of a new stadium for Juventus, who revealed yesterday their plans to build a new 40,000-capacity venue on the site of their former home, the Stadio Delle Alpi. Since leaving there in 2006, they have been sharing the Olympic Stadium with Torino.

If City fail to sign Buffon, they have identified two top-class alternatives as they look to strengthen their goalkeeping department, whether in January or at the end of the season. That would be bad news for Joe Hart, who signed a new five-year contract with the club last month and was named in the England squad last week.

Hughes holds the 21-year-old in high regard, but he has been looking for a more experienced goalkeeper since taking charge of City in June. A bid to sign Brad Friedel from Blackburn Rovers in July was unsuccessful, the American deciding instead on a move to Aston Villa.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5209501.ece

That's unreal!

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bluenose_72

bluenose_72 198

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There's better keepers than him, I reckon.

You won't find an all round keeper as consistant as Buffon. His shot stopping, handling, kicking etc is world class and he rarely makes the errors you see the likes of Casillas and Cech making(2 other world class keepers).

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JohnGalbraith

JohnGalbraith 0

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There's better keepers than him, I reckon.

You won't find an all round keeper as consistant as Buffon. His shot stopping, handling, kicking etc is world class and he rarely makes the errors you see the likes of Casillas and Cech making(2 other world class keepers).

Matter of opinion then.

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bluenose_72

bluenose_72 198

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I think he'll go.

Juve have hardly missed him over the past 7 games, and it's a new type of challenge.

Buffon's done his time at Juve.

Can't see him going now, he had his chance to leave after Calciopoli and didn't.

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papaguy51

papaguy51 912

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I think he'll go.

Juve have hardly missed him over the past 7 games, and it's a new type of challenge.

Buffon's done his time at Juve.

Can't see him going now, he had his chance to leave after Calciopoli and didn't.

That's what I mean by he's 'done his time'.

Maybe he felt it was his duty to stay, and he can leave for one big fuck-off payday now that Juve are stable again.

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bluenose_72

bluenose_72 198

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I think he'll go.

Juve have hardly missed him over the past 7 games, and it's a new type of challenge.

Buffon's done his time at Juve.

Can't see him going now, he had his chance to leave after Calciopoli and didn't.

That's what I mean by he's 'done his time'.

Maybe he felt it was his duty to stay, and he can leave for one big fuck-off payday now that Juve are stable again.

Can't see him swapping the peninsula for Eastlands, Champions League football would also play a part. He'll retire in Turin.

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trueblue1872

trueblue1872 2

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For footballing reason's he'd be off his head to go there!

Why not?

They're the richest team in the world, you think they'll stop at Buffon? There will be stupid amounts of money flashed in January and top quality players will join the club.

Prem (so called best league in the world) > Lotsa money > quality players join > Improves team.

We've seen what happened to Chelsea when they hit the big bucks. City have far more money so why can't they do the same thing?

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brissyger

brissyger 8

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Man City are different to Chelsea though as Chelsea has a greater tradition and a bigger support base. Chelsea were consistently challenging at the top of the Premiership long before Abromovich came along. That being said Juventus would be insane to turn down 50 mill for Buffon especially when building a new stadium and I think Buffon will go. He stayed because he felt compelled to out of loyalty to the club but now he can leave them knowing he'd be leaving them in a very good state.

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trueblue87

trueblue87 0

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I think he'll go.

Juve have hardly missed him over the past 7 games, and it's a new type of challenge.

Buffon's done his time at Juve.

Manninger hasn't put a foot wrong since he took over from him in goals from what I've seen and heard.

Juve will be happy to receive such an insane amount of money, Buffon won't say no to new challenge + money.

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