£14m, but exactly what Manchester City needed!

Football FanCast columnist David Mooney holds his hands up over Craig Bellamy and feels the Welsh striker was
exactly what Manchester City needed.

Okay. I have a confession to make. And I have to do it now before I'm
embarrassed any further. And no, this one doesn't involve Take That, East-17 or
Westlife. This time, anyway.

Nevertheless, it has to be said – I was wrong about Craig Bellamy.

There. I said it.

Before he joined City, I thought Bellamy was all running, grit and tough
man. I thought his main objective in being in the team was to be a nuisance
first, get opposition players in trouble second and then score goals
third.

But only now, since I've watched him play regularly, over 90 minutes, can I
see that there's much, much more to his game than that. He's quicker than I
thought. He runs much more than I thought. He has a much better touch than I
thought. And he can't half shoot, too.

City, since the departure of, probably, Nicolas Anelka, haven't had a
striker that could be described as prolific. But our Craig's now hit 5 goals in
6 games and if that isn't prolific, then I don't know what is.

He's been vital to City's surge in form, in my opinion. He's provided an
outlet that will always chase the ball when it's in the opposition half and
he's also very useful with the ball played into his feet. Ok, so he isn't
someone like Kaká, but he is exactly what Man City needed.

I was disappointed that Mark Hughes bought him for the price he did, I
certainly didn't think he was worth £14m. But the more I think about it, the
more it makes sense. Mark Hughes sees these players everyday, so he knew just
exactly what the squad was missing. He had also worked with Bellamy at
Blackburn and when managing Wales, so he knew exactly what he was bringing
in.

And now, he's scoring goals and City are on a rise in form. Granted, it's
not all down to Craig Bellamy, but I think he's got a lot to do with it.

Signing Robinho was fantastic. Signing Kaká would have been beyond
fantastic. But, in all fairness to Mark Hughes, they're not the players we need
right now. Although I wouldn't say no if they were to accept a transfer.

Mark Hughes has taken over a side that finished ninth last season and just
escaped relegation the season before with a sequence of wins at Easter time. No
matter how much money you throw at a club like that, it can't be expected that
they would be challenging for the top four almost immediately.

If City are to become a force in the Premiership, it will take hundreds of
millions of pounds. I would like to see it happen with the kids as much as the
next man, but we all know that won't happen – talented kids will get into the
first team, but no team will ever break the top four dominance with seven or
eight of their academy products in the team.

And it needs to be a gradual change. Right now, Craig Bellamy is the player
we need – someone who will score goals, chase the ball all over the place,
never say die and be the tough man. If we want to attract the biggest players
in Europe, we have to be playing European football regularly.

Money can talk, but it doesn't always. Change needs to be in stages, and
we're still in the process of Operation Keep Playing European Football. When
that's complete, we can begin on Operation Break Into The Top Four.

And from the evidence I've seen so far, Craig Bellamy will help us greatly
to completing part one of this project.

So thank you, Craig. Thanks for signing and thanks for your goals so far.
You have my sincere apologies for judging you before you'd pulled on the blue
shirt.