You just don't get this sort of service from Lord Triesman The chief executive of the Zimbabwe Football Association Henrietta Rushwaya is at the centre of a sex scandal involving players, including Manchester City striker Benjani. Rushwaya is accused of forcing the national team coach Jose Claudinei Valinhos to release players from curfews during international meetings [.

FRIEDEL: Brad Friedel - which many have overlooked - has the most appearances in Blackburn's long and storied history. It's just a shame he wasn't there when Alan Shearer and the Rovers hoisted the EPL trophy in 1994-95. The 36 year old, internationally retired keeper has signed on until 2010 as Blackburn continues to improve [.

Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson has been handed a boost via Nery Castillo's return to training...
But the 23-year-old is nearing a return to first-team action after returning to training.
"The medical people say Nery is now allowed to do everything with the senior squad including physical contact and tackling, so that is good," Eriksson told the club's official website.

We've had this debate many times before: Who is Africa's Greatest Ever Player?
I haven't a clue, although I could list the usual suspects.
One of the men who would make most everyone's Top 10 list has just called it quits: Jay-Jay Okocha.

On Thursday, more than 20,000 fans came to pay their respects to one of the greatest African footballers of all time at his testimonial game.

The farce that is Benjani's transfer from Portsmouth to Man City continues; firstly there were doubts that the requisite forms had been submitted by Man City which made Pompey sweat because they had already spent the Benjani moolah on Jermain Defoe. Next up were rumours that Benjani had a gammy knee and Man [.

Manchester City's 2007-2008 campaign was their best since rejoining the Premiership after a few years of purgatory in England's lower levels. Manager Sven-Göran Eriksson compiled a very respectable 19-11-15 record in his first year on the job, guiding the club to a 9th-place finish, a trip to the Carling Cup quarterfinals, and a berth in the UEFA Cup through their fair play record.

Manchester City goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson has turned down a move to Galatasaray, having previously expressed a wish to join the Turkish club.

Isaksson had been hoping to leave City before the close of the transfer window to safeguard his position in Sweden's Euro 2008 squad.

Portsmouth - Benjani too late for City, while Defoe signs in
Things didn't go quite to plan for Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth yesterday. A deal was agreed for Benjani to go to Manchester City for a fee of 9 million. However the player bizarrely arrived too late in Manchester to complete the deal.

The Daily Mail reports that the Benjani situation has just got even more confusing after Man City pulled out because a medical highlighted some dodgy knee problems for the Zimbabwean striker. On top of all that guff, there are whispers that Benjani doesn't even want to move, which may see the lawyers rolling [.

Manchester City have tonight corrected press speculation that Benjani Mwaruwari has completed his transfer to the club from Portsmouth.

Some news organisations have this evening claimed in unattributed stories that the Portsmouth striker has joined the Blues.

Manchester City are delighted to announce the signing of Benjani Mwaruwari from Portsmouth for £3.87million.

The Zimbabwe striker joins the Blues on a two and a half year deal after passing a medical yesterday and agreeing personal terms.

Further payments could be made if the player makes up to 75 senior starts.

Come on Benji boy, stop the crap game. You yourself said that you would love to play for Manchester City and now you say that you never wanted to leave Portsmouth. Come on, give us a break, will you! ESPN Soccernet's reports that Benjani, now a Man City after a much talked about deadline transfer fiasco, [.

.......and when we've won our derby day this is what we'll sing ...... Hark Now hear !!!
40 years since the last 'double' over united and they couldn't have picked a better day to repeat the feat. With the minutes silence impecabbly observed (though go see some of the self righteous whining on red issue) city put in a performance well above the standard of the last few weeks to firstly frustrate and then pick off united.

Manchester City have searched entire mainland Europe for a striker that manager Sven-Goran Eriksson so desperately requires but all the effort has been in vain. Now the highflying Premiership club is looking closer to home for a striker. To come to the point directly, they are looking at Portsmouth's Benjani to bolster their striker force as [.

Benjani to Manchester City (very close at least)! Portsmouth's best forward move has made Harry Redknapp's life a living hell now, unless he's got transfers lined up today. Benjani's exit, Utaka and Kanu at the ANC, and Dave Nugent out with an injury leaves Portsmouth rather thin at the forward line.

Poor Manchester City and Benjani! The Portsmouth striker could have by now become a Man City striker had he been wary of time; instead he has to remain at Fratton Park until the end of the season at least. According to The Daily Telegraph, Man City were on the verge of signing the Zimbabwean international striker [.

Having waited up until after midnight on Thursday to try and ensure I got confirmation of all of our transfer news before finishing posting up, I decide to call it a day shortly after, safely assuming that the Benjani deal was not yet announced but would be confirmed shortly and I'd pick the details up in the morning.

Man City have actually managed to get themselves a bit of a bargain, whittling down the initially agreed £7.7m fee for Portsmouth striker Benjani to a much more palatable £3.87million (increasing after Benjani completes a whopping 75 senior starts). Manager Sven Goran Eriksson seemed pretty chuffed with the deal, saying: "I am [.

Many people are calling it the bargain of the January transfer window. While it cost around £9 million for Portsmouth to sign Jermain Defoe from Tottenham, Manchester City have acquired Benjani from the Hampshire club for an initial fee of less than £4 million. The Daily Mail report that City's star performer this season is [.

Come on, let's settle this Portsmouth-Benjani-Manchester City circus once and for all! One day it is reported that the Zimbabwean striker never wanted to leave Fratton Park and the other day it is reported that he is happy to have left Pompey. Today it is reported that Benjani is happy to be at Manchester City.

Out of all the Premier League football managers that should lose their jobs in the summer, would Sven-Goran Eriksson have been on anyone's top three list? You could argue that Paul Jewell has done nothing to halt Derby's depressing run of form (if anything, he's made it worse), you might even say that Alan Curbishley [.

Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov has been cursed with yet another horrific injury that will rule him out for the next six months. The Bulgarian international has only just recovered from damaging his knee ligaments 12 months ago and he was set to start the first match on the Premiership's opening round of matches.

Manchester City have problems both on and off the pitch. Off the pitch their future is uncertain; their Thai  owner Thaksin Shinawatra has offered to resign from the club's board and is on the run from the authorities in Thailand. On the pitch, they have problems in attack with Valeri Bojinov, Benjani and Darius Vassell [.

The January transfer window may now be firmly shut, but Sky Sports reports that Sven-Goran Eriksson remains hopeful of landing Portsmouth striker Benjani. Manchester City had been hoping to seal the deal late last night, believing that Portsmouth had submitted the correct documents to the Premier League in order to make the transfer happen.

Sky Sports quotes the Portsmouth striker Benjani as saying that he wants to join Manchester City and that he is hoping that the uncertainly over his move to the Easrlands is dealt with soon. Benjani was all set to join the Premiership high flyers but failed to turn up in Manchester before the Thursday night deadline.

While uncertainty remains over whether Benjani will remain at Portsmouth or sign for Manchester City, The Guardian report that Pompey have not yet signed Jermain Defoe permanently. The striker, who was yesterday called up by Fabio Capello as a replacement for Gabriel Agbonlahor, was initially signed on loan from Tottenham due to the time constraints [.

It appears that Benjani will be unveiled as a Manchester City player today, with The Independent reporting a deal has been agreed with Portsmouth. The price tag will comes as a surprise to many, with the striker rumoured to be exchanging hands for roughly £3.8 million, despite Pompey's valuation being nearer the £8 million mark.

There's no doubt that the 2008 January transfer window will be remembered for the Benjani fiasco, with the striker failing to complete his transfer from Portsmouth to Manchester City before the Thursday midnight deadline last week. However, The Times today reveal the reason why it's taken nearly another week for the deal to be completed, [.

Manchester City have today poured scorn on the suggestion that Benjani Mwaruwari could be banned from playing for the Club.

The BBC's late-night Inside Sport programme made the claim that the option of banning Zimbabwean athletes from competing in Britain is being discussed as part of a new strategy to put pressure on Robert Mugabe's regime.

The answer is probably not, judging from some of his comments on the BBC website. Owning a Premier League club is very much a status symbol for Thaksin Shinawatra, who has done very little to confirm that he's happy with the efforts of manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, despite speculation about the Swede's future at the club.

West Ham and Man City look set to battle it our for the signature of former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse according to reports in today's papaers.
Man City fans woke up to the news this morning that Zimbabwean international Benjani will be out for the first month of the season with a thigh strain.