Noel Gallagher welcomes Carlos Tevez Manchester City apology AUDIO
Singer and Manchester City fan Noel Gallagher tells BBC Radio 5 live that now Carlos Tevez has apologised the club can move forward. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17127699
CITY PLAN SUMMER SWOOP FOR SPANISH STOPPER
Manchester City are planning a move for young goalkeeping star Joel Robles who is currently on loan at la liga side Rayo Vallecano.
City see the 21-year-old as perfect back-up to Roberto Mancini's number one Joe Hart could be ready to bring him to the Etihad Stadium in summer according to Spanish media site, el Gol Digital.
Joel played two senior games for his parent club Atletico Madrid, before moving to Vallecas on loan last month.
Capped at under 16, 17 and 21 level for Spain, the young keeper is a product of the same Atleti youth system that produced Manchester United's David de Gea.
Roberto Mancini is keen to bring the best young talent to Eastlands and City have already snapped up a number of young talent from the Spanish game, including former la Masia resident Gai Assulin from Barcelona.
Nasri: I'll prove I'm no £24m flop
Nasri admits he has failed to reproduce his sparkling form from last season when he was nominated for the PFA’s Player of the Year since his summer switch from Arsenal.
The French midfielder has struggled to hold down a regular place in Roberto Mancini’s star-studded side and has managed just four goals in his 31 appearances.
He revealed he has had to get used to defending as Mancini demands that all his creative players track back when City lose possession.
Nasri, 24, says he is adapting to his new role at City and aims to show his critics he is not an expensive flop.
“It’s always tough when you change and when you go to another team,” he said. “You have to be involved 100 per cent and at some points, I wasn’t.
"Now I have started to be settled and now we will see a better Samir every week.
“You have to work when you don’t feel well and not producing what everyone expects. But I was always confident about my quality and you will see that.
“It’s not the same here as Arsenal. At Arsenal, I was playing a little bit higher and here we are 4-4-2, so you have to work more defensively.
“So it’s difficult, but it doesn’t matter if I play in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, I want to show everyone it wasn’t a mistake.
“I never asked City to pay £24million so it’s not down to me. It was a lot of money, but every transfer now is a lot of money.
“What you want to do is to give something to the team and the people who brought you here and who trust you. The money and everything else isn’t my problem. After one year, it won’t be a problem.”
Nasri has featured in City’s last nine games and Mancini is happy with the progress he is now making.
The City boss feels he is settled at the Etihad Stadium and is improving the defensive side of his game.
“With Samir, I think that when you change teams, you can have some problems in the first three or four months,” said the Italian. “But Samir is a high-quality player.
“He has improved a lot in the last two or three months. He’s young and he brings a lot of quality to the team.
“I think that Samir is an offensive player, but it is important that every player works defensively, even the strikers.
“He has improved a lot in this and against Porto, he worked in the defensive phase. If we want to play with Samir, Silva, Aguero and Balotelli we need the four of them to work when we defend. Otherwise it is impossible to win the game.”
Nasri hopes to continue his run against Porto on Wednesday and City fans are already getting excited by the possibility of an all-Manchester final with the Blues and United well placed to make the last 16.
But even though City lead 2-1 from Thursday’s first leg and Porto have never won in England in 14 attempts, Nasri refuses to look that far ahead.
“United is a contender for sure, but it isn’t just about Man City or United,” said the former Marseille star. “There are plenty of other teams.
Atletico Madrid have good experience of this competition.
“For us, a derby in the final would be good, but we’re not there yet. We have to beat Porto first and then we’ll see.”
Mancini will again field a strong side because he is taking the competition seriously and Nasri claims they want to win it and the Premier League.
“We want to win everything at the start of the season,” he said. “Now we don’t have the FA Cup or the Carling Cup. But we have the Premier League and the Europa League, so we will be focused on these competitions to try and win them.”
Manchester City ponder summer move for Chelsea target Higuain as Real Madrid eye Aguero
The France-born Argentina international, 24, is a target for Chelsea but Real believe City have pole position.
The Spaniards are keen to bring Sergio Aguero back to the capital, but City may look to offer Carlos Tevez instead.
Roberto Mancini agrees United boss Sir Alex Ferguson dropped a real clanger by not signing Joe Hart when he had the chance
Blues keeper Joe Hart has become City and England’s undisputed No.1 since joining the club from Shrewsbury with a string of impressive displays
Roberto Mancini believes Sir Alex Ferguson is absolutely spot on – he did miss a trick in not signing Joe Hart!
The United manager revealed earlier this week he had the opportunity to sign the keeper for £100,000 when he was a teenager at Shrewsbury, and said it was one of his biggest mistakes.
Mancini last week refuted the notion that Hart is already one of the top goalkeepers in the world, even though City ambassador Patrick Vieira this week suggested he was up there with Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.
But the City manager believes Hart had vindicated his decision at the beginning of last season to opt for the young England star ahead of established No.1 Shay Given.
Some critics claimed Mancini had made an error, even though Hart had been player of the year at Birmingham during his season-long loan at St Andrew’s.
But Mancini was mindful Given had undergone shoulder surgery just months before, and plumped for Hart on the opening day of the campaign at Tottenham.
He was vindicated as Hart produced a stunning performance in a 0-0 draw, a display which underlined his place as City’s No.1, and propelled him to the top of the England pecking order.
“If you remember when I put Joe in goal for Shay Given, it was seen as a big mistake,” said Mancini.
“That was normal because we had two fantastic keepers. Joe was younger than Shay but I thought he could be a top-quality keeper for the next 10 years for City and for England.
“For this reason, I changed it.
“But Joe is young – a good keeper, but he can improve a lot. He needs to work and to know it’s not important arriving at the top, but to stay there for many years.”
RAG RAGE
Shaun O'Brien has refused to sell the land at his vehicle recovery company OB Trucks to Man City so they can build a new £100m training complex including a 7,000-seat stadium and 17 pitches. Instead, he has parcelled up the site into square foot plots which he will sell individually at £250 each.
His move has met with equal amounts of praise and anger in the football-mad city. But O'Brien was keen to stress that the scheme had nothing to do with football - especially since he started receiving threats to his home and business because of it.
O'Brien originally turned down an offer of £200,000 for the 18,500 sq ft site, plus an additional £750,000 for moving and expenses.
Since the offer was rejected, a compulsory purchase order (CPO) has been issued by Manchester City Council in a bid to speed up the process.
"The way it was originally reported [in the papers] they said that because I was a Man United fan I was trying to block their plans just because I hate City," O'Brien told International Business Times UK.
"But I'm a Mancunian before anything else and I'll admit the site is a s**t tip and what they're going to be doing with it is great, but it's the way they're going about it that I'm against.
"We've had hate mail, threats of violence, people threatening to burn the place down, to give my home address out on the internet, basically a hate campaign all because they were saying it's because I'm a United fan that I won't sell."
MORE: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/30264 ... ansion.htm
Ex-City player Paul Simpson, boss of Northwich Victoria, is taking up a role with Rio Maior academy in Portugal.
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[/spoiler]OTHER BOLLOX
Chelsea are targeting Arsenal and England winger Theo Walcott and could be willing to swap him for Stamford Bridge striker Daniel Sturridge. the Sun
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is in the hunt for 21-year-old Ghana international defender Daniel Opare, who has impressed for Standard Liege this season.
Raffael has made 128 appearances for Hertha Berlin the Sun
Liverpool are one of three clubs believed to be monitoring the form of 26-year-old Hertha Berlin midfielder Raffael. talkShit
Arsenal and Liverpool are believed to have reignited their interest in Werder Bremen attacking midfielder Marko Marin, 22, who has been dubbed the German Lionel Messi. Footylatest
Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien were all dropped from the Chelsea line-up against Napoli on Tuesday for daring to criticise manager Andre Villas-Boas before the match. Cole told the boss: "I came here to win medals, and trophies, but I'm never going to do that with your tactics." the Sun
Manchester United winger Nani will be offered a new four-year contract with wages of £130,000 per week. the Sun
Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy says he will not celebrate if he scores a goal against his boyhood club Cardiff City in Sunday's Carling Cup final. Daily Mirror
Chelsea midfielder Ramires is close to signing a contract extension that would keep him at the club until 2017. Daily Mirror
Arsenal are ready to open fresh contract talks with winger Theo Walcott, midfielder Tomas Rosicky and striker Robin van Persie after the trio indicated they are keen to stay at the club. Metro
Manager Arsene Wenger faces being left with just £10m to rebuild Arsenal in the summer. London Evening Standard
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that influential defender Rio Ferdinand could be key to 18-year-old midfielder Paul Pogba staying at Old Trafford. Manchester Evening News
Sunderland are not looking to fill the vacancy left by international development director Niall Quinn. Newcastle Chronicle
Warsaw Stadium has been cleared to host the opening Euro 2012 clash between Poland and Greece on 8 June. Daily Mail
A giant Wayne Rooney was among the cut-out performers on display at the Rio de Janeiro carnival. Daily Telegraph
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