I'm an Italian, get me out of here says City's food critic Bianchi
Rolando Bianchi, the £9m Italian striker, has admitted he has no long-term future in English football after six troubled months at Manchester City. Bianchi vented his frustrations in an interview with La Gazetta dello Sport in which he was scathing about English food and described team-mates looking at him "as if I were an alien" when they found out he was teetotal.Bianchi, whose potential availability has alerted a number of Italian clubs as well as Atletico Madrid, is the most expensive of Sven-Goran Eriksson's foreign recruits, but his erratic performances and complaints of feeling homesick have put him in danger of being remembered alongside Corradi Grabbi, Massimo Taibi and Andrea Silenzi among the least successful Italians to play in the Premier League.
Eriksson has already made moves to replace him by signing the Mexican international Nery Castillo on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk. That places a significant question over Bianchi's future, and the former Reggina forward already seems to have made up his mind that he will not be at the club any longer than the end of the season. "I hope to score at least 10 Premier League goals and I want to win a place in the Champions League," said Bianchi. "Then I'll pack my bags again and go in search of new adventures. I'd like to wear the shirt of Atletico Madrid and score 15 goals in the Primera Liga."
The 24-year-old, who has scored only four league goals since joining City in July, said he had found it difficult getting used to the food. "I have raised the white flag with English food. I don't like it. And I think I must be the only teetotal player in the Premier League. My team-mates were surprised when I refused a beer. They looked at me as if I were an alien."
He also has his doubts about English refereeing. "In Italy the referee whistles as soon as a defender brushes against you. In the Premier League you don't get a free-kick even if the defender runs you over with a tank."
