Eriksson not looking to sign players in Far East

The Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson will travel to the Far East next week as City tie up major sponsorship deals but he will not be bringing back Thai players for the club's first team.

Suggestions that the Swede is being pressured into signing players from Thailand – home of new club owner Thaksin Shinawatra – have been dismissed by the club.

"There is no chance of players from Thailand playing for our first team, certainly not in the conceivable future," a City spokesman said.

Eriksson will visit Bangkok and Shanghai, along with City's China international Sun Jihai, as the club complete the signings of four new sponsorship and commercial deals. City can expect to make between £5m and £10m from the agreements, with the bulk of the interest coming from China and not Shinawatra's homeland.

"We will be making four announcements next week, simultaneously in Bangkok, Shanghai and Manchester, regarding new partnership deals," the club spokesman added.

"There is immense interest in English football in the Far East, as well as City, and we would be aiming to crack the Far East, for want of a better word.

"These deals have come about because of where we are in the Premier League table [City are in third place, two points behind the leaders, Arsenal]. They are not things that would have happened in our position last season."

City will be setting up academies in the Far East and Eriksson will discuss bringing Thai and Chinese players to Eastlands for trials.

The Thailand right-back Suree Sukha could be one of the first players to travel to the UK. But City point out that they had several Thai youngsters at their Carrington training ground in pre-season, and all have returned home because they were not considered good enough.