Svennis has made his first foray into the transfer market since taking over at Manchester City by swooping for Reggina striker Rolando Bianchi. According to the BBC the fee is £8.8 million, which is a fair wedge of cash by anyones standards. What can we learn about this player from a quick Google search?

Well he is 24 years old, a good age for a striker, one at which youth combines with a certain level of experience. He is 6ft 2inches tall, which is certainly reasonably lanky. He started his career with Atalanta, playing 20 games without scoring. He spent the first half of the 2003/2004 season on loan at Serie B Cagliari, where he bagged a meagre 2 goals in 14 appearances. He returned to Atalanta for the second half of the season and played only one game.

Not the brightest start to a career so far! Anyway, our hero Rolando moved to Cagliari on a permanent basis for the 04/05 season, but this too was not a success. Despite playing 25 times for the Sardinian club, he managed only two goals. Poor Rolando was sold again, and had to pack his belongings into a little waterproof bag and begin the long swim east to Reggio Calabria, to play for Reggina.

This move was the making of the young Rolando, and his career took of with a vengeance. He finished fourth in the Serie A top scorers chart last season, an impressive feat when you consider that Reggina finished only one point away from relegation. Rolando's star was in the ascendency, and like Ulkrika Jonsson, Faria Alam and Nancy dell'Olio before him he caught the eye of Sven Goran Eriksson.

Now, call me a cynic, but a career of mediocrity followed by one season of glory is not exactly top credentials, but Svennis has a proven track record of success at club level, so perhaps Bianchi will set the premiership alight.

Something else of note for Manchester City fans is the fact that Bianchi has stated it is his ambition to play alongside Francesco Totti. One would imagine signing for Manchester City would have stymied that ambition, unless Sven is yet to unleash his trump card. Long term Roma man Totti playing in the biancocelesti of Man City anyone...?

Naah, me neither!