Man City boss Stuart Pearce has indicated he may sign eight players in the summer.
Manchester City boss Stuart Pearce has indicated he may be looking to sign as many as eight players over the summer as he looks to overhaul the squad that has contributed to a dismal end to the season.After being on the brink of Uefa Cup football last season, an FA Cup quarter final defeat to West Ham kick-started a run of seven defeats in eight games which has left them languishing in 15th.
Pearce has made no secret of his disappointment with his players, and a busy summer is now expected at Eastlands with a number of arrivals and departures likely.
Reports on Saturday suggest that City could be ready to sell key duo Sylvain Distin and Joey Barton as they are stalling over new deals, meaning Pearce would be handed further funds to boost his squad.
The former England left back is targeting a move for Lazio midfielder Ousmane Dabo, as well as being linked with Blackburn's Paul Dickov and Heerenveen's Lasse Nilsson, and Pearce says he may bring in eight players to change the complexion of his squad.
"Last summer I said I thought I needed four players," said Pearce.
"Looking at it now, with one or two players leaving the club in the summer, it's maybe more than four - six or eight even.
"But they have to be the right sort of player to fit into our system, they've got to be right to offer us some leadership and make us more hard-nosed.
"The fans can be sure my coaching and scouting staff have been working very hard over a number of months to identify the players we require and bring them to this football club."
Pearce also admitted that the season has been a disappointment after his managerial career started in such promising fashion last term.
"I've always said from day one to judge me at the end of the season and we're in a position which isn't good enough for this football club," Pearce added.
"I know I've got a lot of hard work to do but that would have been the case no matter where we would have finished, and I would have said I can achieve higher and better than what we are achieving."
