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Roque santa cruz needs no introduction, he is one of the best players Paraguay has ever produced. He joined Manchester City in December 2009, along with Tevez and Adebyor. Santa Cruz, since then, has gone on to play 20 games for Manchester City and only 2 under Roberto Mancini.
It was clearly evident that Santa Cruz was completely out-of-the-picture since the Italian manager took over the reins. In the begining of the 2010-11 season, Santa Cruz was Mancini’s fourth choice striker. He started only a single game, which was the 2-1 lose against WBA. After that Santa Cruz made only one premier league appearance, against Birmingham City, coming in for James Milner at the 66th minute.
It was evident that Santa Cruz wanted to leave city. When the winter transfer season came, City got a loan offer from Lazio for Santa Cruz, which got rejected because Santa Cruz claimed that he wanted a permanent deal out of city. It was finally decided that he would re-unite with Rovers at the Ewood Park. He played 9 games for them and was in the side picked for the Copa America.
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Returning from the Copa America, Santa Cruz secured a move away to Betis on a one year loan. Not many people know that since his arrival in Spain, Santa Cruz has played 31 games for Betis. There were rumors that Mark Hughes was again interested in signing him for QPR . It maybe surprising that Mancini doesn’t prefer him, but City’s ex manager takes Santa Cruz wherever he goes. Hughes and Santa Cruz have been together at Blackburn and City. Fulham nearly secured Santa Cruz when Hughes was the manager and it was the same case when Hughes took over at Loftus Road.
Already 30 years old and with no realistic chance of playing at City now, it is the right time for the Paraguayan star to secure a move away from the Eastlands. Santa Cruz has scored 25 goals for Paraguay, which is the joint highest for the national team. With 350 career appearances, 90 goals and 28 assists for teams like Bayern Munich, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Real Betis, it can be said that Santa Cruz’s talent is being wasted.
