Shaun Goater has received an indirect reassurance about his place in the Manchester City line-up following the record signing of former Preston hitman, Jon Macken.

Macken was signed from City's First Division rivals earlier this week for ?5 million, Royal Gazette earlier this week, welcomed the arrival of the youngster there will be some who view the purchase as boss Kevin Keegan planning for the future.

Goater turned 32 a fortnight ago and although he is top scorer at the club with 29 goals this season it is obvious the manager has to look at the long term picture.

However, although he has not sat down with Goater himself, Keegan has revealed the content of an initial conversation he had with Macken upon his arrival at Maine Road.

"I made it absolutely clear to him that he will not walk straight into this team," Keegan said. "Not ahead of the players who have done fantastically well for us so far this season.

"Jon is going to have to wait for his chance. He is under no illusions, he is not going to be an automatic choice, but we did need another striker."

Goater needs one more goal for his best ever league tally, having now reached 29 on two occasions.

He has drawn a blank in the last two matches, the 4-1 win against Coventry and Tuesday night's 2-1 away win at Birmingham. But he is not the kind of player to go into hiding if he misses the odd chance and will be looking to add to his total on Friday night against Bradford City.

With Paulo Wanchope sidelined with a knee injury, Keegan is likely to stick with the Goater-Darren Huckerby line-up, which will mean a second substitute's appearance for Macken.

"Jon Macken has a period of eight weeks to settle in, to learn what we are about, to get to know everyone, to see the standards and to learn the rules. He can then go on holiday to come back to play in the Premiership next season, that is the dream," added Keegan.

"It will be up to him to form relationships on the pitch. I think he will be able to play with any of the three strikers we have here."