Ecuadorian Espinoza likely to be among Birmingham City targets
Jun 5 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post
Birmingham City co-owner David Sullivan is hopeful of signing further South American players within the next three weeks – and one of those looks certain to be experienced Ecuador international defender Giovanny Espinoza.
Having confirmed the capture of Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez from Mexican club Santos Laguna for a club record fee, Birmingham are wasting no time in moving on to their next summer targets.
Sullivan has confirmed that the Blues are homing in on six centre-halves and, although the businessman didn’t reveal specific names, he dropped a massive hint that one of those is Espinoza.
“We hope that within two weeks to bring in another South American player – an established international who has played 80 times for his country and will put some backbone into our defence,” said Sullivan.
That description perfectly describes Espinoza, a known Birmingham target. The 32-year-old Barcelona Sporting Club player, who spent a year in the Dutch Eredivisie with Vitesse, has 84 caps for Ecuador and represented his nation at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
Sullivan has also admitted that he and his team are working harder than ever before to sign players that will give Birmingham a genuine chance of staving off relegation next season.
As is already presumed, the Essex-based millionaire has identified centre-half as being the club’s priority position for strengthening and is hoping that each pay-out brings a slice of luck as well as a Premier League-standard footballer.
“We’re hoping to sign a few more players from South America in the next two to three weeks. We’ve worked harder in the last three weeks than we’ve worked at anything,” said Sullivan. “People don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, this has been going on 18 hours a day for about ten days.
“Myself and Karren Brady in particular have worked on this (the Benitez) deal and we’re working on about another ten or 15 other deals. We won’t get them all, we know that but we hope to land three or four of them.
“What we are trying to buy this time is quality, last time we brought numbers and I don’t think it worked. We’re trying to buy quality and hope two or three of them really come good and make a difference on the pitch. We hope to make a number of signings this summer.
“You can spend a lot of money and they don’t come right and you can spend less money and somebody comes right so you do need a bit of luck with signings. We’re doing all the research we can and doing all the background checks but you do need luck.
“We are chasing six centre-halves at the moment, if we get two of them then we will be pleased. The demand for very modest players is very scary. We’ve got to try to spend our money wisely and hope that some of the players turn out better than what they cost.”
Sullivan has also confirmed that Birmingham are in ‘advanced negotiations’ with a goalkeeper, almost certain to be Manchester City and England’s Joe Hart.
