Eriksson set to buy to replace injured Bojinov

Table-topping Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is determined to bring in a replacement for injured striker Valeri Bojinov.

The Bulgarian will be out for at least five months and probably longer after suffering cruciate knee ligament damage in Sunday's win over Manchester United.

Bojinov had only been on the field for six minutes before he sustained the injury in a collision with United defender Patrice Evra and now the 21-year-old is facing a major battle to play any part in the remainder of the campaign.

While Eriksson has nothing but sympathy for Bojinov - the youngest foreign player to appear in Serie A when he turned out for Lecce aged just 16 - the Swede recognises he is now short on firepower.

Aside from £8million new-boy Rolando Bianchi, Eriksson has only last season's mis-firing quartet of Georgios Samaras, Bernardo Corradi, Darius Vassell and Paul Dickov to call on ahead of Saturday's trip to Arsenal.

And, as he is also lacking midfield options, Eriksson is keen to do some more shopping ahead of the August 31 transfer deadline.

'Work is going on in the office,' he told the club website.

'We didn't want to have to do it but we have to look carefully at the situation because when you have a player who needs this kind of operation and rehabilitation, you can never be sure how long it takes to come back.

'To lose one player for such a long time is a big blow.

'But it is not only a striker, we need one or two midfielders as well to be covered properly.'

Bojinov's injury has seen Eriksson switch his thoughts away from reinforcing his goalkeeping pool even though a move for Livorno's Marco Amelia has long been touted.

Instead, it appears increasingly likely the former England coach will stick with Kasper Schmeichel, who has started his senior career with three consecutive clean sheets, and England Under-21 international Joe Hart, knowing he will have more experienced back-up in Andreas Isaksson once his fellow countryman recovers from a broken thumb.

'I would say the goalkeeping situation is on ice at the moment,' he said.

Source: Soccernet.com