Manchester City have signed the Israel defender Tal Ben Haim from Chelsea on a four-year contract, ending a 13-month stay in London during which he made just 10 Premier League starts and was fined for criticising the club's management. The fee for the 26-year-old is officially undisclosed, although it was previously reported that City were preparing a £5m bid.>>guardian.co.uk
Merely confirmation of what had been widely expected given reports over the past few days, although the undisclosed fee adds a little intrigue as to whether the touted figure of £5 million was paid.
A good player, and one who lost his way at Chelsea a little following Jose Mourinho's departure but will add depth to an area which, whilst strong, is a little light.
As I've posted before though, it will be interesting to see exactly where he will fit in, and what impact this will have on the current incumbents (most likely Micah Richards and Vedran Corluka. It is unlikely Ben Haim will switch one bench for another so it could be that Mark Hughes is preparing to push either Richards or Corluka into midfield - which for me, could be a big risk unless he does opt for a 4-5-1 formation - perhaps with two holding midfielders to allow the creative talents of Petrov and Elano to really flourish.
Although he won't feature tomorrow evening in the second leg against EB/Streymour, it may become a little clearer over the next ten days when we have a packed week of pre-season fixtures.