ACTUALITE |
19.06.2002
City seal Foe loan deal
Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan has completed the season-long loan signing of Cameroon star Marc Vivien Foe from French champions Lyon.
City completed the deal yesterday and have paid Lyon £550,000 for his services, with a view to making the switch permanent.
Keegan hailed Foe`s arrival as an "absolute key" to his squad-building programme as City prepare for their return to the top flight.
He said: "Marc was a long-term target and an absolute key to what we want to do and that is no disrespect to anyone else.
"He is a quality player who has just come back from the World Cup. He is big, strong and a great athlete. He knows English football and was at West Ham where he did very well."
The 27-year-old has turned his back on the chance of Champions League football in favour of a move back to England, and Keegan is confident that Foe can banish the memories of a brief first spell in England with West Ham.
"I know he didn`t stay long at West Ham but that was not to do with how he played," he added. "If you talk to any of the players who were there and we have talked to Paolo (di Canio), Eyal Berkovic and Stuart Pearce, all are very respectful of Marc Vivien Foe.
"Marc plays in that holding role but I am not saying he can`t play it with another person, in other words there could be a chance to play another player with him.
"So that does not rule out Kevin Horlock, or anyone else for that matter, who may be fighting for that position."
Keegan feels Cameroon international Foe has the desire to stamp his authority in City`s engine room and is delighted to have snapped up the services of the much-coveted midfielder.
"He is on loan for a year and we have paid a loan fee of £555,000 to have him for this season," Keegan said in a club statement. "He has left Lyon and the chance of Champions League football to come here and he wants to play Premiership football."
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