Venables says City’s Arab owners should bring in players with spirit, fight, leadership and backbone.
He wrote in his column in the Sun: “If they really must buy superstars then the men they should be looking at are Spanish internationals Marcos Senna and Carles Puyol.
“These are top-drawer players who will bring the qualities City need — leadership, strength, guts, never-say-die.
“They are in sharp contrast to a player like Robinho who, by running off to Brazil without permission, is the embodiment of what concerns me about City. As soon as the problems mount, and everyone looks for someone to blame, they’re off.
“That’s no good for City.
“Senna and Puyol might not be the names to set Arabian blood pulsing, but what a difference they could make to a team leaking goals.
“Senna was Spain’s best player in last year’s European Championship triumph and, even at 32, the Villarreal holding midfielder has at least two more years in his legs.
“Puyol is brilliant at right-back or centre-half, two areas where City are in desperate need of strengthening.
“It would take a fortune to sign him from Barcelona but money is no object for City, as we found out with their proposals to sign Kaka.
“The problem is Puyol is captain of arguably the best team in Europe. Why would he want to swap that for a side who might not even be in the Premier League next season?”
