Sven-Goran Eriksson has backed his summer signing from Reggina Rolando Bianchi to eventually shine at Man City. Bianchi has struggled to find his footing in England after having scored his first and only Premiership goal so far, in the opening day’s win at West Ham United.

"He’s a goalscorer and came from a great season with Reggina. He scored 18 goals for a team that’s not a top team, and that was a fantastic achievement. Hopefully he will score a lot of goals for us, and don't forget that this a long season," the former England boss said on the club’s official website.

"He’s been a little bit unlucky and maybe found it a little bit difficult to settle in at first. Then he got injured, came back, and was injured again.

"Hopefully he can re-start this week and prepare himself for the next games. After this break we have difficult games, and we have the Carling Cup at the end of the month, which is very important for us.

"I’ve spoken many times to him in my office, and if there are any difficulties for him we are here to try and help.

"We don’t put pressure on him, we are happy to see him out there with the rest of the boys training and then it’s up to me to decide who’s going to play. We have Rolando, we have Mpenza playing well, and of course George came on against Middlesbrough and did very well."