Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is to turn his attention to Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini (below) after having an offer in the region of £3million rejected out of hand by Newcastle United for Republic of Ireland International keeper Shay Given.
A spokesman for the Magpies has confirmed that the North East club had received a formal bid from their Premiership rivals City for Given, but dismissed the offer out of hand, with Newcastle claiming the offer was “laughable” for the keeper, which they consider to be the best in the Premier League.The Newcastle spokesman said: “We received a bid for Shay in writing from Manchester City and we dismissed it out of hand.
“It was for between three and four million pounds which is laughable when you consider we are talking about the best goalkeeper in the Premier League.”
It is understood that Newcastle, have placed a £11million price-tag on 32-year-old Given, with the Toon spokesman also revealing that talks over the Irishman leaving St James’ Park would not even be considered unless a bid of at least £8million was forthcoming from the Blue half of Manchester.
Hughes has always insisted that he will not be forced into paying over the odds after last summer’s takeover at City by the wealthy ADUG to bring in fresh faces to the Eastlands Stadium, with the former Blackburn Rovers boss now set to turn his attention to Blues No2 Cudicini.
35-year-old Cudicini has been at Stamford Bridge since joining from Castel di Sangro in 2000, but has had to play second fiddle to Petr Cech since Cech’s arrival from Rennes in 2004 and could see a move to City as a last chance to play regular first team football.
Cudicini is out of contract at Chelsea next summer, with manager Luiz Felipe Scolari possibly ready to cash in on the keeper this month rather than have the Italian leave the West London club on a free transfer in the summer.
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