City close in on Polish star and unnamed striker

Bak?
By Sean Wozencroft
July 31 2003

After the disappointment of missing out on countless players from Britain this summer, Lennie Lawrence has been looking at the options from Europe. According to the South Wales Echo, we are close to signing a Polish international defender as well as a striker.

Life is all about learning by your mistakes. After the Jody Morris saga, Lawrence is being very careful not to name the players he is currently in talks with. This, presumably, is why speculation has been sparse lately.

As the player has never played in Britain before, City have applied for a work permit for our Polish star. He is out of contract and is keen to join the Bluebirds. All being well, it should be only a matter of time before he is announced as our third summer signing.

The unnamed defender could well be Lens centreback Jacek Bak. The 26-year-old is able to play anywhere along the back line as well as in the role of midfield anchorman. A squad player for Poland during the qualifying campaign, Bak made only one start at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals, in the 2-0 defeat by the Korean Republic. He has made 42 appearances for his country.

Lennie Lawrence said: "We are in negotiations with a Polish International but that is one of several deals which are ongoing. We will bring new players in as quickly as possible."

Whether or not it is Bak who is soon to sign remains to be seen. Whoever it is could be in South Wales in time for tomorrow night's testimonial match against Charlton.

The second signing is an experienced target man from a club in one of the top two divisions. Lawrence is set to splash out nearly £1m on the striker, who will be back-up for Peter Thorne. There are no real clues to say who this unnamed goalscorer could be.

Despite rumours this week, the mystery striker is not Sunderland's Tore Andre Flo. The Black Cats' record signing is up for sale after a disappointing first season at the Stadium of Light and press reports had linked him with a move to Ninian Park.

Lawrence is looking at a number of strikers, but Flo is not one of them. "We are talking to a number of clubs, players and agents, but he is not one of them," confirmed the Bluebirds boss.

Meanwhile, Leicester and Wales midfielder Matthew Jones still fancies a move to Ninian Park. He has been on trial at Nottingham Forest, but the First Division Club wanted him to take a massive 94 per cent cut in wages to join them. Jones, 23, currently earns around £20,000 a week at Leicester.

But Jones' chances of moving to City are small after Sam Hammam said that any Welsh player who turned City down would never have a second chance of becoming a Bluebird (Jones rejected a loan move last season).

"Things change in football, last season was not the right time or place of move clubs, it's time now," Jones told the Echo.