Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz has committed himself to the club by signing a new four-year deal.
The Paraguay international had been the subject of a bid from Manchester City and has also been linked with Manchester United and Arsenal.
But the 27-year-old’s decision to stay at Ewood Park until 2012 is a major boost to new Rovers boss Paul Ince.
The striker scored 23 goals in all competitions last season after moving to Blackburn from Bayern Munich.
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Roque Santa Cruz’s peripheral existence at Manchester City continued today when the club announced that he has not been included in their Europa League squad.
Santa Cruz was excluded from City’s 25-man squad for the qualifying ties against Timisoara last month and the injury-troubled striker has missed the cut again for the first group phase.
Robinho’s departure to Milan had opened up a place but the manager, Roberto Mancini, wanted to include James Milner following his arrival from Aston Villa and also had to adhere to guidelines stipulating that a certain number of homegrown players were involved.
Santa Cruz has been included in City’s Premier League squad but has scored only four goals since joining them in an £18m move from Blackburn Rovers 15 months ago, and the Paraguayan came close to signing for Lazio on loan before the transfer window closed last week.
Uefa, announcing the Europa League squads on their official website this morning, had omitted the names of Milner and Mario Balotelli but have subsequently admitted this was an administrative error on their part.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/sep/09/roque-santa-cruz-manchester-city-europa
French champions Marseille wants to do a cut-price deal for Manchester City outcast Roque Santa Cruz.
City are ready to cut their losses on last summer’s £18m buy and sell him for less than HALF of their outlay as they look to drastically cut their squad.
That appeals to Marseille boss Didier Deschamps who only has a limited budget but wants to bring in a big-name striker and tentative enquiries found that Didier Drogba was way out of their price range and was not for sale.
Former Blackburn striker Santa Cruz, 28, is on City’s list of players they are ready to offload along with the likes of Craig Bellamy and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Juventus also fancy Emmanuel Adebayor but City are not currently interested in letting him go despite the impending arrival of Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli.
But that will mean that Santa Cruz can go and Marseille are in the queue of clubs although his wages of around £80,000-a-week will still be a stumbling block which they must overcome.
Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-City-transfer-news-Roque-Santa-Cruz-set-for-cut-price-exit-to-Marseille-article538473.html#ixzz0uyaaZfxn
Valencia have asked for Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz as a makeweight in the deal for David Silva.
Sportsmail revealed earlier this week that a deal was agreed in principle between the clubs as City fought off late interest from Chelsea.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1289351/Valencia-want-Roque-Santa-Cruz-David-Silvas-29m-Manchester-City.html#ixzz0ropd5NXu