City close to Alves signing

[unitedfan]

Manchester City have secured a deal for Brazilian international Afonso Alves, according to reports in Holland.

It is reported that City owner Thaksin Shinawatra flew to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Wednesday to open talks with Heerenveen and he seemingly wasted little time in securing a deal in principle.

It is now claimed that a 20million euros (£13.85million) deal is in place for January, and that manager Sven Goran Eriksson reportedly joined Shinawatra in Holland on Thursday to talk with the player.

Heerenveen director Yme Kuiper refused to comment on the speculation surrounding their star striker.

"Obviously the rumour machine concerning Alves has gathered pace and our policy is not to react to rumours," he said.

Alves is contracted to Heerenveen until 2011 - but he has made little secret of the fact that he wants to quit for one of Europe's top leagues.

Middlesbrough showed interest in the summer and Alves admitted he would be open to a move to Teesside, so a switch to Eastlands is sure to appeal to him.

Goals trail

Alves has risen to prominence in recent seasons after he moved to Heerenveen in 2006 from Malmo. During his first season he bagged 31 goals in 34 games and this season has proved equally as fruitful.

He has 10 goals to his name this term, which have come from just four games and that included a momentous seven-goal haul against Heracles.

City have turned to Alves as they look to bolster their options up-front, which are currently very limited.

Summer signing Valeri Bojinov sustained a serious knee injury in his first start for the club in August which has sidelined him until January at the earliest, whilst fellow new arrival Rolando Bianchi has failed to settle and looks as if he could leave during the transfer window.

Emile Mpenza has been filling in, but Eriksson does not consider him a long-term solution - which then leaves Georgios Samaras and some sources claim he could be used in the Alves move.

Samaras arrived at City from Heerenveen in 2006 but he has failed to live up to his hefty £5million price tag and again looks highly unlikely to be part of Eriksson's thinking for the coming years at City.

Big signing if it goes through. I'm obviously hoping it doesn't - he's a frightening goalscorer

[Super Pibe #7]

Nothing special, but good enough for city i guess.

[Blaugrana]

It keeps surprising me how (foreign) people rate players. First Drenthe who was supposedly 1 of the most promising players of the world. All because of that 1 tournament, he isn't special AT ALL and now he doesn't even make the bench at Real Madrid (who were stupid enough to follow the hype and pay lots of money for him).

And now Alves, he scores goals against easy opponents for an attacking team, and suddely he's worth 20 million euro? He ain't a bad striker but please don't judge him only on his goals. I rate Luis Suarez just as highly, he's far more complete but just scores less goals

People who don't follow the league tend to overrate the wrong players by just looking at statistics or watching 1-2 matches.

[LAF]

I agree^^

I've been told he plays like a slower, weaker Drogba.

Anyway just because you score in Holland doesn't mean you'll do it in a better league (Kezman and Kuyt being the two recent examples).

I'm sure he'll be better than Mpenza though.

[unitedfan]

I'd disagree over this player. I rate him - obviously a big part of that is his goals, but that's not the only thing about him, imo. Besides, a prolific goalscorer is more valuable to a side than a player who taps the ball and dribbles to decent effect.

This lost speed, however. No word of it since that article.

[Blaugrana]

I rate Alves too but i'm just saying he isn't better than forwards like Makaay, Huntelaar, Ari and Luis Suarez. Those 5 are the best forwards of Holland, hard to seperate

You only know the ones that score many goals, that's the point i'm trying to make. I bet 80% of this forum haven't heard of Luis Suarez yet (not blaming you) while he's amazing too. Ajax paid around 10 million for him earlier this season. Yes Alves scores more goals but Suarez makes many more assists

My point is - don't look at goals only

[Sven]

I think he would suit the EPL.

And is a huge improvement on Samaras, which obviously isn't hard.

[unitedfan]

Originally Posted by Blaugrana

I rate Alves too but i'm just saying he isn't better than forwards like Makaay, Huntelaar, Ari and Luis Suarez. Those 5 are the best forwards of Holland, hard to seperate

You only know the ones that score many goals, that's the point i'm trying to make. I bet 80% of this forum haven't heard of Luis Suarez yet (not blaming you) while he's amazing too. Ajax paid around 10 million for him earlier this season. Yes Alves scores more goals but Suarez makes many more assists

My point is - don't look at goals only

Fair enough on your point, I thought you were just dismissing him as garbage. I don't blame you but I'm getting annoyed with people assuming that I don't follow the league I talk about. I've seen Suarez in 3 games this season, he's impressed me. I've seen Alves in 2 this season. Besides, Alves was player of the year in Holland last season. I could accept an opinion on Suarez and Alves being at the same level in terms of abillity, but you see what I mean when I say Alves is a frightning goalscorer.

[Blaugrana]

Yeah true, when i said "You only know the ones that score many goals" i meant it in general, not personal.

My reply was also partly because i got annoyed With many members it's obvious that they judge the Dutch league without watching the games. First Drenthe who was supposedly amazing (well yeah he really showed it didn't he?), despite 70% of the Dutch people saying that he wasn't good enough for Madrid. And now Alves, i simply had/have the feeling he's judged on his goals only