Should you stay or should you go?

The Following was sent in by Ryan Corless

Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and  Mario Ballotelli – just five of the supposed names on City’s summer shopping list. A list so exciting that we forget that players will be going the other way too. A number of rumours regarding players that already wear the sky blue shirt have surfaced over the coming weeks; rumours that question whether or not they have a future at the club.

Some names are more obvious than others, for example it looks like strikers Jo, Felipe Caicedo, Valeri Bojinov and Benjani, as well as Bulgarian midfielder Martin Petrov may have played their last games for the Blues. But there are names that may be a little harder to call for the City faithful; Craig Bellamy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland and Robinho all find their names thrust into the media spotlight linking them with moves away from Eastlands.

After a truly remarkable effort this year, it would be hard to see Craig Bellamy anywhere but the City of Manchester stadium come September. Yet still rumours link ‘Bellers’ with a move away to Goodison Park, home of Everton. After an impressive season with City though, surely the hopes of the supporters are that Craig will be playing his football in sky blue and not a darker shade of blue next term.
Verdict – will still be a City player come next season

After a somewhat controversial season, Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor finished with 14 goals in 26 starts. However, a so-called lazy attitude and lack of interest has led to some City fans questioning whether Ade will still be playing his football for us next season. A silly stamp to the face of Robin Van Persie as well as a red card away at Stoke in the FA Cup meant that Ade didn’t get the run of games that City fans would have liked to see, problems that were all of his own making. Sometimes though, it is easy to forget that the 6’3 target man was involved in a horrific gun-attack in January, an event so terrifying that Emmanuel himself said he was finding it difficult to recover from. Given a clean run of games and less controversy could Ade go on to prove a lot of Blues wrong with a better season next year?
Verdict – will still be a City player come next season

A fan-favourite for many years now, Shaun Wright-Phillips hasn’t enjoyed his best season for the Blues, struggling to get a decent run of games in the first team, something that wasn’t made easier by the January arrival of Adam Johnson, not to mention the outstanding consistency of Craig Bellamy. It could well be that Shaun wishes to play more first-team football, and may look elsewhere to do so, but if the England winger can accept that only top-class performances will allow him a stretch of games – something which he is very capable of producing, then City are likely to offer him the chance of staying at Eastlands.
Verdict – may be sold if the price is right

After an impressive season in 2008/09, scoring 13 goals, the pressure and expectation was on Stephen Ireland to perform. It’s a fair comment to say however, that it just hasn’t been Superman’s year. Struggling to perform consistently enough to hold down a first-team place, with competition from the likes of Nigel De Jong, Gareth Barry and Patrick Vieira, Stephen has had a frustrating year with City. However, in the season prior to this, we saw Stevie play some magnificent stuff, which had some Blues branding him our very own Steven Gerrard in the making. Given a bit more luck next year, City fans all over will be hoping that Ireland can re-produce the form that made them think so highly of him a year ago – if, that is, the Irish midfielder is still here.
Verdict – may be sold, if the price is right

In August 2008, we saw the arrival of a Brazilian forward, an arrival that excited every Blue on the planet. With a debut goal against Chelsea, Robinho couldn’t have wished to a better start to his City career, but a lack of determination away from home meant that Robbie was the target of much stick from the City faithful. After a long January in which rumours surfaced that Robinho was about to exit from the club, he was loaned to Santos. A loan that, he said; he would be happy to extend, given the chance. Despite saying he left City on good terms it looks as though the Brazilian has no desire to return to Manchester and may well have played his last game from the Blues.
Verdict – has played his last game for City

Whatever happens it is bound to be a busy transfer window this summer, with players coming to the club, as well as players departing. Some may say it is harder now than any other time in the Blue’s history to predict the starting line-up for 3 months onwards from this day.

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