City finally land Benjani
05 Feb 2008 - 15:04:24
The complicated saga of Benjani Mwaruwari's transfer from Portsmouth to Manchester City has finally been sealed with the Zimbabwe striker moving to Eastlands for £3.87million.
The 29-year-old former Auxerre hit-man has penned a two-and-a-half year deal with City after passing a medical on Monday and agreeing personal terms.
Further payments could be made to Pompey if the player makes up to 75 first-team starts for Sven-Goran Eriksson's side.
City's chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh told the club's official website: "I'd like to thank Portsmouth Football Club, the Premier League and the Football Association for their help, understanding and assistance in enabling this transfer to be completed to the satisfaction of all concerned.
"In particular I'd like to thank Peter Storrie of Portsmouth and Sir David Richards of the Premier League for their hard work and pragmatism."
Eriksson said of the deal: "I am delighted that we have signed such a quality player, and I am looking forward to working with him straight away."
City were left frustrated on transfer deadline day when they failed to clinch the signing of Benjani, who scored 19 goals in 77 games during his time at Fratton Park.
Portsmouth were also unhappy that a deal failed to materialise after they had clinched the signing of Jermain Defoe from Tottenham to offset the loss of Benjani.
After Benjani failed to sign by the midnight deadline on Thursday, the Premier League launched an investigation and asked for the relevant paperwork to be submitted which led to the transfer being resurrected.
