Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Man City complete De Jong switch

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Manchester City have finalised the signing of Netherlands international Nigel de Jong on a four-and-a-half-year contract from German club Hamburg.

The 24-year-old has moved for an undisclosed fee after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

However, German media reports that Mark Hughes's side may have paid as much as £18m to sign him.

The midfielder had a clause in his contract that would have allowed him to leave Hamburg in the summer for £1.8m.

De Jong said: "I feel very good and for me it is the next step in my own career after three years in Germany and I hope to be successful at Manchester City.

"The ideas and the planning behind this club are very hopeful and it is a new adventure so I am delighted to be here right now."

The Dutchman has played 66 Bundesliga games for Hamburg after joining from Ajax for £1.2m in 2006.

And De Jong, who is out of contract with Hamburg in 2010, had previously hinted that he would like the opportunity to join the Eastlands outfit, saying: "Everybody knows that I would like to play for a big club eventually.

"I count Manchester City in that category.

The move sees De Jong join Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy at Eastlands as City's January recruitment list grows.

Left-back Wayne Bridge was the club's first January signing, arriving from Chelsea for about £10m, while Bellamy joined from West Ham for a fee believed to be worth £14m.

City's executive chairman Garry Cook said there could be more signings before the window closes.

"We've got a couple of others that we're still working on and it's unfair to comment too deeply on those," Cook told the club's website.

"We had very clear plans going into [the transfer window]. We're ticking the boxes as we say."

Cook also insisted that, despite missing out on signing AC Milan star Kaka, the club had a long-term plan in place.

"Over the next four [transfer] windows we have got a clear list of players we would like to see at this football club," said Cook.

"We choose not to get into the public space, which allows itself to be speculative, but we clearly know what we're doing - and I think that the fans are going to be excited."

City lie 11th in the Premier League table but only four points above the teams in the relegation zone.

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