• Benjani Mwaruwari says there is ‘no trust’ at Manchester City
• Blackburn Rovers striker says: ‘Money is not everything’
The Blackburn Rovers striker Benjani Mwaruwari claims there is “no trust” at his old club Manchester City and that some of their players are motivated primarily by
• Free agent has trained with Sam Allardyce’s side
• We think he will be OK to play for us, says manager
The former Manchester City and Portsmouth striker Benjani Mwaruwari looks set to join Blackburn Rovers.
Benjani, who is a free agent, has been training with the squad in the hope of agreeing a deal. Speaking ahead of their match against Arsenal tomorrow, the Rovers manager, Sam Allardyce, said: “We are trying to sign him on a contract because of his wealth of experience.
“He has trained with us a few days. He has shown us that we think he will be OK to play for us in the Premier League. So we are trying to sort something out.”
Benjani spent the second part of last season on loan from City to Sunderland but started only one Premier League game.
Blackburn RoversTransfer windowguardian.co.uk
• ‘Cordial’ meeting between club and Ashan Ali Syed
• Indian businessman wants to conclude deal in next fortnight
Blackburn Rovers have confirmed they have held positive talks with the Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed’s company over a proposed takeover.
A club statement read: “Blackburn Rovers can confirm that officials have held a cordial and productive meeting with Western Gulf Advisory staff and advisers concerning a proposed takeover of the club. The process is ongoing.”
The Bahrain-based Syed, owner of Western Gulf Advisory, confirmed yesterday he was keen to buy the Lancashire club and said he wanted to give the Blackburn manager, Sam Allardyce, a transfer kitty of up to £100m.
Syed claims to have signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Blackburn allowing him an exclusive four-week period for negotiations and due diligence. Yet he is hoping to complete a deal much sooner: “I have 14 days to complete [the takeover] before the transfer window shuts at the end of the month and I’m trying my level best because Big Sam needs funds for players.
“I will be working very hard to complete the deal so that I can allocate some funds and help Big Sam to buy some good players. Between £80-100m is what I’d be allocating for players, but I’m not saying that there is not talent in the team. The talent is already very good.
“Right now Big Sam has done a fantastic job with very limited resources. If I can give him some good resources I’m pretty confident he could work wonders.” Syed has also said he will not set Allardyce lofty and unrealistic targets and will not interfere directly with team matters. He also wants to revamp the 31,000-capacity Ewood Park.
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