Emergency Fulop to City’s rescue

Manchester City will enter the final few weeks of the season with an emergency loan ‘keeper between the posts.

After Shay Given was ruled out for the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder, City had to use the emergency loan system to draft in a replacement and Sunderland ‘keeper Marton Fulop is the man they have signed until the end of the season.

It’s amazing that a club chasing fourth place in the most lucrative league in the world, with a multi-million pound backer and a manager as professional as Roberto Mancini, have to go cap in hand to the Premier League in order to find a goalie.

Gunnar Nielsen, 23, played the last 17 minutes of the 0-0 draw with Arsenal after Given’s injury and he’s the only fit senior stopper on the books with Stuart Taylor still recovering after a knee operation and David Gonzalez suffering from a groin injury. City, who are facing their most important ever Premier League run-in, did try and recall Joe Hart from Birmingham, but the terms of his loan meant this was not possible. England’s World Cup betting suggests he is in with a chance of starting as number in South Africa, but he won’t be filling that role for City this season.

Mancini might point to the fact that City have been unlucky with injuries, but you would expect a club the size of City to have a keeper able to fill in without having to borrow one from a lesser rival.

Fulop has made 12 Premier League starts this term, but he fell out of favour on Wearside following the 7-2 thrashing at Chelsea in January and has remained as Craig Gordon’s understudy ever since. The Hungary international is highly rated but is set to leave Sunderland in the summer and an impressive few weeks at Eastlands will put him firmly in the shop window.

However, it seems unlikely City will let Hart go out on loan again next season, with the young ‘keeper seemingly set to help England live up to their World Cup 2010 odds in South Africa.