Roque Santa Cruz profile: 10 things you need to know about the Manchester City target

Roque Santa Cruz is poised for an £18million move to Manchester City.

Here's all you need to know about the Blackburn striker rated as hotter than David Beckham…

1. Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero was born in Paraguayan capital Asuncion on 16 August 1981.

2. He joined Olimpia Asuncion as a nine-year-old and was invited into the first team squad at just 15 before making his full debut on 27 July 1998. The team won the national championship that year and in 1999, when Santa Cruz was also named Paraguayan footballer of the year.

3. His appearances for the U20 national side also helped him collect the accolade, as he scored three times in the 1999 Fifa World Youth Championship. Those performances earned him a call up to the senior side for the 1999 Copa America, where he scored three in three. He currently has 17 goals in 53 appearances for the national side, including this hat trick against Colombia in the 2007 Copa America. (watch with the sound down, the music's dreadful!)

4. His goal-scoring exploits caught the eye of Bayern Munich, and he was signed for €5million in July 1999. He repeated the instant impact he had with Olimpia, firing five goals in 11 appearances to help secure the Bundesliga title that season.

5. He acquired something of a cult following in Germany, despite having major injury problems, and teamed up with Sportfreunde Stiller to sing Ich Roque. His time in Bayern was touched by sadness, though, as his younger brother Oscar died in a car crash in 2005.

6. After a Champions League triumph, five Bundesliga titles, four German Cups, a World Club Cup winner's medal and 38 goals in 189 games, the arrival of Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni saw Hughes snap up the striker for a bargain £3.5million deal in July 2007 in what was to prove one of the deals of the year.

7. He made an instant impact in the Premier League, scoring with only his third touch in an opening day win over Middlesbrough and went on to score 19 goals in his debut season.

8. The summer transfer window saw suggestions Roque Santa Cruz could follow Mark Hughes from Blackburn to Manchester City after their mega-money takeover. Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham have also been said to be admirers but he signed a new four year deal in August 2008. Instead it was his 18-year-old brother Julio who was on the move, joining him at Rovers.

9. Germany's Die Welt newspaper and Kicker magazine both voted Santa Cruz the most handsome player at the 2006 World Cup, with Raul, Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry completing the Welt top five, leaving David Beckham entirely out of the picture.

10. He married Giselle, sister of former Olimpia team mate Ricardo Tavarelli, in 2004 and they have two sons Tobias and Fiorella. They are one of the football families to be targeted by burglars, and was forced to hand over thousands of pounds of jewellery at knifepoint last year.

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