Monday Morning City Rumour Round-Up

INCOMING:

- HATEM TRABELSI

City are interested in Tunisian international defender Hatem Trabelsi.The Ajax full-back is available on a Bosman and Pearce sees him as a long-term solution to a problem position. 'Sources' in Amsterdam say City are interested in the highly-rated international but face stiff competition for the signature of the 29-year-old... in other words, No Chance !



STEED MALBRANQUE

City and Liverpool seem to be battling over Fulham's £ 3.5+ rated midfielder, Steed Malbranque.

Now this guy is quality, but given a choice between the two clubs, I wonder where he'll go....hang on while I think about it for a few nano-seconds.... Well at least we got linked with him ;-(



GRANT LEADBITTER

City and Blackburn are believed to in the hunt for the signature of Sunderland's 20-year-old midfielder Grant Leadbitter.

Daft name if you ask me; sounds more like a dodgy beer than a footballer, but he was one of the Black Cat's better performers last season. His current contract expires in the summer but City would have to pay compensation due to his age. Personally, don't know enough about him, but if we were to raid Sunderland, I'd rather have Arca.





OUTGOING:

WILLO FLOOD:

Leeds United maybe interested in Willo Flood, who despite a few appearances at tail end of last season is way down the pecking order at City. He's already been loaned out to Coventry last season and despite words of support from Pearce in his recent appearances, his days seem numbered - Shame as he's a nice lad, but at this stage of his career probably not up to top Premiership standard..... but we've got a few like that !



JOEY BARTON:

Newcastle seem to be taking the pi$$ with a £ 1.5m bid for contract-staller Barton - probably about what he's really worth though, but City won't be daft enough to offload him cheaply - or will they ??

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