De Jong excited by City 'adventure'

Kaka might not have been too interested in Manchester City's vision of the future but Nigel de Jong cannot wait to begin his 'new adventure'.

When executive chairman Garry Cook attempted to outline just what the Blues' owners had planned for Eastlands, he was met with blank looks by Kaka's father, Bosco Leite, in Milan on Monday night.

But De Jong, who has completed a £17million switch from Bundesliga outfit Hamburg, was far more interested. And his debut cannot come quickly enough.

'The ideas and the planning behind this club make me very hopeful,' he said.

'It is a new adventure so I am delighted to be here.'

The Holland midfielder will fly out to Tenerife to join his new team-mates at their warm-weather training camp ahead of what is likely to be his debut against Newcastle next Wednesday.

Having had a quick glance at the Blues' impressive home, De Jong has the feeling he will like his new surroundings.

'The stadium looks great and it can only be better when it's full of people,' he said.

'I am looking forward to playing here because everybody knows that the Premier League is maybe the biggest competition in the world.'

It represents a step up in standard from the Bundesliga, where the former Ajax man has spent the last three years.

He joins Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy, who arrived hours before Kaka's very public rejection of City on Monday night, as transfer window arrivals, with the prospect of more to come.

Newcastle and Ireland keeper Shay Given is high on the list, while interest has been registered in Chelsea's out-of-favour defender Branislav Ivanovic, who is also attracting the attention of Inter Milan.

'We had very clear plans going into this transfer window and we are ticking the boxes as we go,' Cook said.

'There are a couple of others that we are still working on. As yet, there is nothing more to report but overall we have had a good transfer window.'

City have just under two weeks to bring new faces in before Sheikh Mansour must close his chequebook until the summer.

Cook has confirmed plans are already in place to replenish City's squad then, and over the 12 months that follow.

'Over the next four windows we have got a clear list of players that we would like to see at this football club,' said Cook.

'We choose not to get into the public space, which allows itself to be speculative, but we clearly know what we're doing and I think that the fans are going to be excited.'

RTE