Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson admits he's seen hardly any of his new signings play live - but insists it's a gamble worth taking.
Brazilian midfielder Elano, Spanish left back Javi Garrido, Croatian defender Vedran Corluka and Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov all were unveiled at Eastlands yesterday and Eriksson admitted: "Most of these new players I have never seen in action live, but it's just not possible because the season has not even started. But I've seen videos of them and I've checked them out with friends who have seen them play. A lot of them the club scouts had seen before, though."
"If you try to go for the best players, the players in the England squad for instance, it's very difficult to get them," said Eriksson.
"I promise you that I tried for maybe four and two of the clubs would not even discuss a price to sell. The other ones were very expensive. We had some English names but clubs just wouldn't sell.
"There are a lot of good English players around and I know that because I had another job until a year ago!
"But if we wanted to buy any of them, the price has gone over the roof. I don't think the strategy of buying foreign players is a risk but so many players all at once is maybe a risk.
"But what was the alternative? If we want to do well, I can't see an alternative way to do it. If we have ambitions to go up the table, something had to be done."
