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The Paraguay international Roque Santa Cruz has said that he is extremely happy to be back on the pitch for Manchester city. The 30-year-old spent the last season on loan to the Spanish club Real Betis. He has, however, expressed his desire to be part of the Manchester city team.

Even though he is down the pecking order, the Manchester city manager Roberto Mancini decided to utilise the Paraguay international for most of the match against Limerick on Sunday. This was one of the final pre-season friendly matches for the club before they take on Chelsea in the Community Shield.

Roque Santa Cruz is widely expected to depart the club in the summer transfer window on a permanent basis. However, Manchester city have been finding it extremely hard to sell the player due to his extraordinary wages. The player was a £ 16 million signing from Blackburn a few seasons ago. However, since the departure of the former manager Mark Hughes, he has found first-team opportunities limited under Roberto Mancini, which led to his loan deal to the Spanish club. Due to the inability of the club to sign the Arsenal striker Robin van Persie, it is thought that Mancini is looking at keeping Roque Santa Cruz at the club.

“For me, it was great to play for 70 minutes – I had a good, long season last year and I’m just coming back from holiday and feeling good, looking forward to what is coming in the next two weeks. There are a couple of players who haven’t played so much this pre-season so it was good to have a game and build up some match fitness. I’m really pleased for Edin to come back in and get a couple of goals after his injury,” said Roque Santa Cruz on the official website of the club.