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Manchester City have secured a deal for Brazilian international Afonso Alves, according to reports in Holland.
It is reported that City owner Thaksin Shinawatra flew to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Wednesday to open talks with Heerenveen and he seemingly wasted little time in securing a deal in principle.
It is now claimed that a 20million euros (£13.85million) deal is in place for January, and that manager Sven Goran Eriksson reportedly joined Shinawatra in Holland on Thursday to talk with the player.
Alves is contracted to Heerenveen until 2011 - but he has made little secret of the fact that he wants to quit for one of Europe's top leagues.
Middlesbrough showed interest in the summer and Alves admitted he would be open to a move to Teesside, so a switch to Eastlands is sure to appeal to him.
Goals trail
Alves has risen to prominence in recent seasons after he moved to Heerenveen in 2006 from Malmo. During his first season he bagged 31 goals in 34 games and this season has proved equally as fruitful.
He has 10 goals to his name this term, which have come from just four games and that included a momentous seven-goal haul against Heracles.
City have turned to Alves as they look to bolster their options up-front, which are currently very limited.
Summer signing Valeri Bojinov sustained a serious knee injury in his first start for the club in August which has sidelined him until January at the earliest, whilst fellow new arrival Rolando Bianchi has failed to settle and looks as if he could leave during the transfer window.
Emile Mpenza has been filling in, but Eriksson does not consider him a long-term solution - which then leaves Georgios Samaras and some sources claim he could be used in the Alves move.
Samaras arrived at City from Heerenveen in 2006 but he has failed to live up to his hefty £5million price tag and again looks highly unlikely to be part of Eriksson's thinking for the coming years at City.
It is reported that City owner Thaksin Shinawatra flew to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Wednesday to open talks with Heerenveen and he seemingly wasted little time in securing a deal in principle.
It is now claimed that a 20million euros (£13.85million) deal is in place for January, and that manager Sven Goran Eriksson reportedly joined Shinawatra in Holland on Thursday to talk with the player.
Alves is contracted to Heerenveen until 2011 - but he has made little secret of the fact that he wants to quit for one of Europe's top leagues.
Middlesbrough showed interest in the summer and Alves admitted he would be open to a move to Teesside, so a switch to Eastlands is sure to appeal to him.
Goals trail
Alves has risen to prominence in recent seasons after he moved to Heerenveen in 2006 from Malmo. During his first season he bagged 31 goals in 34 games and this season has proved equally as fruitful.
He has 10 goals to his name this term, which have come from just four games and that included a momentous seven-goal haul against Heracles.
City have turned to Alves as they look to bolster their options up-front, which are currently very limited.
Summer signing Valeri Bojinov sustained a serious knee injury in his first start for the club in August which has sidelined him until January at the earliest, whilst fellow new arrival Rolando Bianchi has failed to settle and looks as if he could leave during the transfer window.
Emile Mpenza has been filling in, but Eriksson does not consider him a long-term solution - which then leaves Georgios Samaras and some sources claim he could be used in the Alves move.
Samaras arrived at City from Heerenveen in 2006 but he has failed to live up to his hefty £5million price tag and again looks highly unlikely to be part of Eriksson's thinking for the coming years at City.
I'll look forward to seeing him play, he's had alot of hype from the board dutchies. 
