City hope to sign Kompany in time to face West Ham
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Manchester City are expected to today complete the £6m signing of the Belgium international Vincent Kompany.
The 22-year-old, who can play in either central defence or as a holding midfielder, flew into Manchester last night and will undergo a medical today before signing a four-year deal. If terms can be agreed he will go straight into the squad for Sunday's Premier League meeting with West Ham United.
The signing will come as a huge relief to City who are desperately attempting to improve their squad ahead of the closure of the summer transfer window. They have failed in an attempt to sign the Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz, after submitting a bid of £12m, and are waiting to hear if their offer in excess of £10m for the Real Zaragoza striker Diego Milito will succeed. City hope to sign at least three new players before the end of the month to add to the arrivals of striker Jo and defender Tal Ben Haim who the new manager Mark Hughes has signed.
Kompany, who has played 23 times for his country and who started his career with Anderlecht, is regarded as an exciting young prospect and has previously been linked with Chelsea.
However, recently he has become embroiled in a club versus country row after appearing for Belgium during the Olympics. It is understood he agreed to play only two games before returning to Hamburg but stayed on with the country before eventually threatening the Belgian Football Association with legal action.
Yesterday, Hamburg confirmed that they had accepted a bid from City who this week lost out to Arsenal in their attempts to sign Mikaël Silvestre for £750,000 from Manchester United. "We received an enquiry from Manchester asking whether Vince could imagine moving immediately and, depending on the medical examination, we quickly agreed to this transfer," the Hamburg president, Bernd Hoffman, said.
Elsewhere, Portsmouth have signed Arsenal's French left-back Armand Traoré on a one-year loan deal. Traoré, who joined the Gunners from Monaco in 2005, has made 18 first-team appearances, including the 2006 Carling Cup final.
The surprise move of his fellow Frenchman Silvestre to the Emirates has given the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, the opportunity to send out the highly-rated 18-year-old to Fratton Park for more first-team experience.
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