Patrick Vieira is officially Roberto Mancini's first signing at the club. An interesting signing on a number of levels and signals, if there was any doubt, the move away from Mark Hughes' template of building the team up with younger players with Premier League experience.

Jack over at The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll has pointed out in the past that Hughes brought in players with experience in winning trophies and this certainly continues that trend.

The question of course is how much does the former Arsenal Captain have left? A six month deal with an option for another year certainly shows that City aren't that sure either, but it gives Vieira the opportunity to showcase his talents in the run up to the World Cup.

Here again this shows that a significant number of transfers are not about a club liking a player and buying them away from their club, but rather finding situations, such as a lack of playing time, and exploiting them. Kompany had a falling out with Hamburg management, de Jong had a release clause which meant Hamburg would have received next to nothing, SWP and Bridge were not playing at Chelsea, Adebayor and Toure had fallen out with team mates, Given was frustrated by the circus surrounding Newcastle.

I really am quite fascinated with Mancini and look forward to each game to see what he is going to do. The club that he has inherited does not fit his presumed preferred tactical approach and so instead he's got on with it by mixing and matching personnel. Contrast this with other managers who have a system and force players into roles that don't work for them. Yes Rafa I'm looking at you.

Vieira strikes me as the first step in allowing Mancini to impose his tactical preference on game situations. I will be pleasantly surprised if Vieira is able to play full games for the club. This strikes me as a useful squad addition where the midfielder comes on after 60 minutes and helps finish out games. City have had three consecutive clean sheets however the club has also been fortunate in the way the schedule has fallen. It's going to get harder and a player who can help choke the midfield in the final 30 minutes of the game makes sense.

Master stroke? I'm not sure. But there's a logic in this one. A player who Mancini has coached, has bags of Premier League experience and is on a short term contract... I don't see a down side in any way.