Transfer Rumours: The Arsenal clique and Hleb

Since the money came in, City have seen the development and destruction of a number of cliques. First there was the Brazilian clique: Robinho, Elano, Jo, Berti. Then the Tafia. And now we have the emergence of the gooners. Stuart Taylor, Sylvinho, Toure, Vieira, Adebayor, and now, if the fairly persisent rumours of today are to be believed, Aliaksandr Hleb. All of our current ex-Arsenal players have joined in the last seven months or so - a fast growing group. Maybe it is all just a ploy to sneak Fabregas up here without too much upheaval for the young man!

Of course, the Arsenal 'clique' is probably the least insular of all these three, so perhaps the right question to ask is if these players are the right ones to be taking City forward. Most, bar Adebayor, are either facing tough battles to get into the team or are merely there to offer experienced cover. Club captain Toure should now be behind Kompany and Lescott, and could even have to be restored to the right-back role where he ended his career at Arsenal, and Vieira will have to show more to take either Barry or De Jong's midfield spot on a regular basis.

So it remains to be asked, would Hleb be a similar type of acquisition? The answer all depends on Stephen Ireland. On current form, City are crying out for a creative central midfielder to unlock the teams who sit back against us, limiting our success on the counter attack. Ireland is meant to perform this role but it is not happening for him at the moment. The ideal player of course would be Elano and it would've been interesting to see how his City career would have progressed if he had lasted until Mancini's appointment. City perhaps rely a little on the counter attack at the moment and the acquisition of a traditional playmaker would definitely help unlock the more defensive teams City come up against.

I am not sure Hleb would be the best player City could get in, but he would certainly be in the right mould. All of City's competitors at the moment have a dynamic creative midfielder who can carry their team forward, whether it be Milner, Gerrard or Modric, and City will be looking for a revival from Ireland if we are going to be comfortable against the Stokes and the Hulls of this league.