England

Roque Santa Cruz To Be Injury-Free For The Start Of Manchester City’s Season

The £17 million pound man aims to put his injury troubles behind him...

Jul 2, 2009 8:57:52 AM

New Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz with manager Mark Hughes

Photo Gallery

Zoom

New Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz with manager Mark Hughes

Teams

Man City

Players

Roque Santa Cruz

Manchester City signing Roque Santa Cruz is fighting fit and hopes to be available on the first day of the season after suffering an injury-plagued 2008-09 campaign.

The striker has been sidelined since April due to much-needed knee surgery, which prevented him playing in Blackburn Rovers' successful battle against relegation.

Santa Cruz is working hard to battle back and is expecting to be ready for the start of City's season.

"I am training and working out every day to be fit for the start of the season," he said, according to The Daily Mirror.

"I had a feeling when I was playing that I had some loose bone in my knee. It wasn't causing me any trouble but I knew I would need to have an operation at some point and that I needed to rest for six weeks, so I had the operation in April.

"There was no point waiting any longer, because I would have done long-term damage to my knee if I had carried on playing."

The Paraguayan striker signed for the Citizens from Rovers for a reported fee of £17 million pounds.

This is the second time City boss Mark Hughes has bought the player, after initially taking him to Ewood Park.

Jamie Dunn, Goal.com