I'm an Italian, get me out of here says City's food
critic Bianchi
Rolando Bianchi, the £9m Italian striker, has admitted he has no
long-term future in English football after six troubled months at
Manchester City. Bianchi vented his frustrations in an interview
with La Gazetta dello Sport in which he was scathing about English
food and described team-mates looking at him "as if I were an
alien" when they found out he was teetotal.
Bianchi, whose potential availability has alerted a number of
Italian clubs as well as Atletico Madrid, is the most expensive of
Sven-Goran Eriksson's foreign recruits, but his erratic
performances and complaints of feeling homesick have put him in
danger of being remembered alongside Corradi Grabbi, Massimo Taibi
and Andrea Silenzi among the least successful Italians to play in
the Premier League.
Eriksson has already made moves to replace him by signing the
Mexican international Nery Castillo on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk.
That places a significant question over Bianchi's future, and the
former Reggina forward already seems to have made up his mind that
he will not be at the club any longer than the end of the season.
"I hope to score at least 10 Premier League goals and I want to win
a place in the Champions League," said Bianchi. "Then I'll pack my
bags again and go in search of new adventures. I'd like to wear the
shirt of Atletico Madrid and score 15 goals in the Primera
Liga."
The 24-year-old, who has scored only four league goals since
joining City in July, said he had found it difficult getting used
to the food. "I have raised the white flag with English food. I
don't like it. And I think I must be the only teetotal player in
the Premier League. My team-mates were surprised when I refused a
beer. They looked at me as if I were an alien."
He also has his doubts about English refereeing. "In Italy the
referee whistles as soon as a defender brushes against you. In the
Premier League you don't get a free-kick even if the defender runs
you over with a tank."
