McLeish relishing Zigic arrival

Zigic was part of Serbia’s squad in South Africa but will link up

with his new team-mates next Monday in time for City’s pre-season

tour of Hong Kong and China beginning on July 14. Blues boss Alex

McLeish has taken into account that Zigic did not feature regularly

for Valencia last season in deciding not to give the player a

lengthier summer holiday. McLeish, who splashed out £6million

on Zigic, said: “He certainly didn’t play as many games as the lads

in our squad last season when, for a long time, we fielded

virtually an unchanged team. “He should be fine and in any case

we’ve got to get him up to a level of fitness where he’s ready for

the Premier League.” McLeish, who has also signed goalkeeper Ben

Foster from Manchester United for £6million, added: “We will

be showing Nikola some of the footage from last season which should

give him a good insight into what he should expect. “The Premier

League is rough, tough and, while Nikola is a big lad, the Premier

League is hard in terms of aggression and that different style of

football.” McLeish is adopting his normal stance of not discussing

potential transfer targets but it is understood Marseille’s Ghana

winger Andre Ayew, who impressed during his country’s run to the

quarter-finals, is on his radar.