Santa Cruz move good for everybody

It looks as though Manchester City’s Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz is set to re-join Blackburn Rovers on-loan for the rest of the season.

The deal is expected to be completed in the next few days according to City boss Roberto Mancini.

Surplus

Mancini has confirmed that he stills thinks the Paraguayan is a good player but he just can’t offer him first team football.

City already had the strike duo of Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli before prolific Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko joined the club earlier this week.

Roque Santa Cruz’s is a familiar story at Eastlands recently. A good player who can’t get a game due to City’s massive spending power. He was just sitting around collecting his wages. Not a situation that benefits anybody and a move will probably prove a good move for everybody.

Injury

Santa Cruz’s City career has been blighted by injury problems. Injuries have meant that Santa Cruz has struggled to nail down a regular first team place at Eastlands. He is now fully-fit and will be hoping for an injury-free spell with Rovers, as he has made just eight starts in his Manchester City career.

Regular

Santa Cruz should get regular first team football at Ewood Park. At 29 years old he needs his career re-igniting and Blackburn should be a perfect place for him to do that. Blackburn has decent attacking options in the likes of Nikola Kalinic, Benjani and Mame Biram Diouf but Santa Cruz is arguably a better player than their current options.

He is an ideal target man and I’m sure he will get on the scoresheet on a regular basis. For Blackburn boss Steve Kean the signing of Santa Cruz is a slight coup. He has signed a good player for no fee and it’s believed that he still has cash in his transfer coffers.

It’s a good signing for a relative novice manager. It’s also a more realistic signing than that of Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, who has decided to return home to play for Flamengo. I admire Kean’s ambition but it was highly unrealistic to think that the ex-Brazilian international would ever join Rovers.

Impressed

Roque Santa Cruz first impressed at Blackburn after arriving from German giants Bayern Munich in 2007 for just £3.5million. He never quite claimed a regular place in the Bayern starting line-up and it was at Blackburn where he became a star performer.

He scored 23 goals in 57 appearances in his first spell at Rovers and his performances persuaded Manchester City to shell out £17.5million on the Paraguayan. It almost seems like short change to City now but he was a big signing at the time.

Reputation

Santa Cruz was loved at Ewood Park in his first stint but slightly soured his relationship with the fans when he left the club in 2009. He now has the chance to make it up to Rovers fans. And in the process restore his reputation as a top striker.

Premier League

Blackburn are currently just five points behind sixth place Sunderland in the Premier League but are also just seven points clear of 18^th place Aston Villa. The Premier League is really close this season and the signing of Roque Santa Cruz could just help Rovers stay out of trouble.

Will Roque Santa Cruz be a good signing for Blackburn?