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Former Germany national team defender Dietmar Hamann has decided to move to Manchester City. The player had initially signed a pre-contract agreement with Bolton Wanderers, but later changed his mind and told the club that he wanted to play in Manchester.
32-year-old D. Hamann spent seven years at Liverpool, scoring 11 goals in 283 matches. However, under the management of Rafa Benitez, he lost his place in the starting lineup and left the team to sign a two-year contract with Manchester City. City manager Stuart Pearce confirmed that Bolton had paid compensation for the German defender, even though he had never played for them.
"I had an agreement with Bolton, but quickly realized that joining them would not be the right move for me. I expressed my feelings to Bolton and they understood my decision. When I heard reports in the media that Manchester City was interested in me, I became interested in the opportunity to move to this club and knew that I wanted to be there. I'm glad that the situation was resolved quickly," said the German on the City website.
Prior to acquiring D. Hamann, S. Pearce spoke with Bolton manager Sam Allardyce: "We reached an agreement with Bolton regarding the compensation. I think they are satisfied with that, and we will have such a high-class player. First of all, I thought that Didi would continue playing for Liverpool and would be unavailable, but then the player's agent called me, and I first thought that I needed to sort everything out with the Bolton club."
"We must make sure that in such a situation we are cleaner than clean, so I called Sam Allardyce and he gave me permission to talk to Didi," said S. Pearce. "I am pleased that he is here because he brings his experience and leadership qualities to the team. If you have winners like D. Hamann in your team, the team is moving in a positive direction."
Meanwhile, another player who left Liverpool was Frenchman Djibril Cisse – as we reported earlier, he has rented himself out to a club with the possibility of being bought out later. The services of the 24-year-old striker were no longer needed by the Liverpool team.
