Keegan lures Foe to City

Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan is convinced his efforts to sign Cameroon international Marc-Vivien Foe have been worth the wait.

The 27-year-old former West Ham midfielder today ended weeks of speculation by completing his loan move from Lyon, turning his back on a chance to play in the Champions League in favour of a return to the Barclaycard Premiership.

The deal will cost the Maine Road club an initial £555,000 (€870,000) which could go up if they choose to take up the option of making the deal permanent at the end of the season, but Keegan is confident all the hard work in landing Foe will be justified.

‘‘He is on loan for a year and we have paid a loan fee of £555,000 to have him for this season,’’ confirmed the City boss.

‘‘He has left Lyon and the chance of Champions League football to come here and he wants to play Premiership football.

‘‘He is a tremendously important signing for us. The others are certainly exciting but some signings you know are just right and this one is. And we have an option to purchase him at the end of the season.

‘‘He wanted to come to the Premiership and that has been the key to it. He is very excited about coming here.

‘‘I have talked to him a number of times on the phone and it has not been an easy deal to conclude as loan deals from big clubs are not easy. But it has gone through and we are very happy about it.’’

Foe, who played for his country at the 2002 World Cup, looks like being the final piece of the summer jigsaw for Keegan, who has spent over £17m (€26.5m) in bringing Nicolas Anelka, Vicente Matias Vuoso, Sylvain Distin and Peter Schmeichel to the club.

‘‘Marc was a long-term target and an absolute key to what we want to do and that is no disrespect to anyone else,’’ Keegan told Manchester City’s official website www.mcfc.co.uk.

‘‘He is a quality player who has just come back from the World Cup. He is big, strong and a great athlete. He knows English football and was at West Ham where he did very well.’’

He was reportedly a target for Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson after the last World Cup in 1998, but he was snapped up by West Ham three years ago before moving to Lyon in a £6m (€9.4m) switch after 18 months with the Hammers.

But his brief time at Upton Park had nothing to do with his ability and, as the manager points out, former Hammers have nothing but praise for his ability.

Keegan continued: ‘‘I know he didn’t stay long at West Ham but that was not to do with how he played.

‘‘If you talk to any of the players who were there and we have talked to Paulo (Wanchope), Eyal Berkovic and Stuart Pearce, all are very respectful of Marc-Vivien Foe.

‘‘Marc plays in that holding role but I am not saying he can’t play it with another person, in other words there could be a chance to play another player with him.

‘‘So that does not rule out Kevin Horlock or anyone else for that matter who may be fighting for that position.’’