Blackburn Rovers are considering a move for Benjani Mwaruwari following the Zimbabwe international’s release by Manchester City.
The 31-year-old has trained with Sam Allardyce’s squad this week as Rovers look to strengthen their striking options ahead of the new Premier League season. Allardyce has spent the summer searching for an inexpensive solution to his side’s lack of goals last term and, though he signed Mame Biram Diouf on a season-long loan from Manchester United last week, believes another striker is required.
Benjani
The Zimbabwean arrived at Brockhall yesterday and will spend the next few days bidding to earn a Rovers deal, with the club’s medical staff assessing him.
The 31-year-old striker, a January target for Rovers, is now a free agent after being released by City boss Roberto Mancini and has yet to secure a future elsewhere.
However, any potential deal between him and Rovers is not yet believed to be close with both parties taking the next few days as an opportunity to assess the situation.
Rovers’ striker search will still continue elsewhere with a strong target man believed to be top of Allardyce’s wanted list, having already secured the services of the speedy Mame Biram Diouf.
Mame Biram Diouf (born 16 December 1987) is a Senegalese footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, on loan from Manchester United, and the Senegal national team.
Mame Biram Diouf
Diouf started his career at Diaraf before moving to Molde in 2007. In his first season with them he won the Norwegian First Division which gained promotion to the Norwegian Premier League. His performances and goalscoring attracted interest from a number of big clubs, he was eventually approached by Manchester United and agreed a move there in 2009. The deal also included that he would remain at his then current club Molde on loan until January 2010, when he then joined up with his new club. He scored on his home debut for United and has so far won the League Cup after being an unused substitute in their 2010 Football League Cup Final victory.
Diouf made his Senegal debut in 2009 in a 2–1 friendly win over Congo DR and has so far won 3 caps for his country.
STEVE Kean is ready to offer Benjani an improved deal to keep him at Blackburn Rovers next season.
The Zimbabwean striker said his farewells to his Rovers team mates earlier this week after turning down the terms he was offered to remain at the club.
Now, in an expected twist, boss Kean has revealed he will improve the offer and hopes the striker will join up with them in Hong Kong.
Blackburn’s mounting cash-flow problems have seen them renege on a deal to re-sign Benjani.
The big Zimbabwean striker joined Rovers on a free last summer, penning a one-year contract with the option of a further 12 months.
Benjani spoke earlier this month of how he would definitely be staying at Ewood Park and had taken up the second-season option.
But that proposal has now been scrapped after the club’s bank hit them with financial restrictions.
The situation has Blackburn’s Indian owners, Venky’s, struggling to find cash to fund new signings.
Mirrorsport revealed on Tuesday how striker Mariano Pavone’s free transfer was shelved after he had gone through a medical and agreed terms.
The 29-year-old Argentine, who is available on a Bosman after leabing Buenos Aires side River Plate, is now a target for Wigan, West Brom and Fulham.
Blackburn striker Benjani Mwaruwari claims there is ”no trust” at his old club Manchester City and that some of their players are motivated primarily by money.
The Zimbabwe international agreed a deal with Rovers last week having been released earlier this summer by City, where he had spent a largely unsuccessful two-and-a-half-year stint.
With a raft of expensive new players arriving at Eastlands after he was signed in 2008 by then-manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, Benjani, whose time with City was marred by injury, was deemed surplus to requirements by the club’s current boss Roberto Mancini.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/7978092/Benjani-there-is-no-trust-at-Manchester-City.html
SAM Allardyce is ready to hand Benjani a Premier League lifeline after the Zimbabwe striker persuaded the Blackburn Rovers boss he was still worth taking a gamble on.
Rovers are set to start talks with the former Manchester City striker about an Ewood Park deal after he proved his fitness during a fortnight of training with the squad, as Allardyce looks to boost his firepower options.
The Lancashire Telegraph understand negotiations will take place between Benjani’s representatives and the club in the next few days – but the search for one more striker will continue.
Rovers chairman John Williams though has warned rival clubs Rovers won’t pay over the odds for any player after a couple of unsuccessful bids in recent days.
Benjamin Mwaruwari (born 13 August 1978), known as Benjani, is a Zimbabwean footballer who is currently a free agent after being released by Manchester City.
Born in Bulawayo,Benjani began his career at Lulu Rovers, Zimba Africa Rivers, University of Zimbabwe teams in Zimbabwe’s Division one and Air Zimbabwe Jets in the country’s Premier League in 1999. He moved to South African club Jomo Cosmos in 1999 where he met his mentor Jomo Sono, after impressing in the friendly match between South Africa and Zimbabwe that was played to commemorate the inauguration of Thabo Mbeki as the president of South Africa.[citation needed]
In 2001, he was voted PSL Player of the Season and PSL Players’ Player of the Season in South Africa.