Tuesday''s B*l**x
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:08 amManchester City switch transfer policy as clock ticks down to deadline
Manchester City have shifted their transfer policy and are now prepared to spend before selling Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz.
The Blues suggested at the start of the transfer window that they needed to shift Adebayor and Santa Cruz, and one of their frontline strikers, Edin Dzeko or Carlos Tevez, in order to make room for any major purchase.
That was a nod to UEFA’s financial fair play rules, as City do not want to be seen to be flouting the rregulations, aimed at forcing clubs to keep spending and wages at a sustainable level.
But with Adebayor digging in his heels over personal terms after City agreed a £5.5million deal with Spurs, and Santa Cruz also finding it tough to secure a move, the philosophy has changed.
Mancini has not been impressed with the way the club has handled its strategy, with tensions resurfacing with City football administrator Brian Marwood and he has persuaded chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak that the Blues cannot jeopardise their chances of bringing in new players by hanging on until others are sold.
City agreed a deal with Tottenham a fortnight ago, but Adebayor wanted a big signing-on fee to make up for the big drop in wages he would have to take, from his £170,000 a week at the Etihad Stadium.
Neither Spurs nor City are willing to stump up the kind of money Adebayor wants, and that is in danger of killing the deal entirely.
Spurs are already looking at other options, including Brazil’s Olympian star Leandro Damiao.
Mancini has made it plain to Adebayor that he will be left to rot on the vine if he does not lower his personal demands.
The Togolese striker has been back at Carrington for training, but has not been included in any of City’s pre-season plans.
Mancini has more sympathy for Santa Cruz, who has been eyeing a permanent move to either Real Betis, where he spent last season on loan, or a club in northern England, which would mean he does not have to uproot his kids from school in Bowdon.
Betis could not afford to pay City’s asking price, and there have been no significant bids for the Paraguay striker. Santa Cruz has been included in pre-season plans, scoring at Oldham last week and and playing as a substitute in the friendly at Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Even if City do get Adebayor and Santa Cruz off their wage bill, they would still have to sell one of their four frontline strikers to make room.
With Tevez appearing more settled and happy than ever, it is Dzeko whose future is the cloudiest, even though Mancini claimed in his interview it was unlikely he would be leaving.
Juventus and AC Milan are both keen, but neither is willing to pay the £20million-plus the Blues want for him. MuEN
Manchester City told that Liverpool's Daniel Agger would cost £22m-plus
City make informal approach for Denmark international
Manchester City have been told they will have to pay more than £22m to lure Daniel Agger from Liverpool, having made an informal approach for the Denmark international.
The Premier League champions have registered their interest in the 27-year-old with Liverpool, who are reluctant to lose the stylish defender but have yet to finalise a new contract with a player who has two years remaining on his current deal.
City value Agger at about £18m, though have not submitted an offer, but it would take an improved fee to tempt Liverpool to sell. The Anfield club considers the £22m that City paid to Everton for Joleon Lescott in 2009 as a benchmark figure on Agger, a player who would threaten the England international's first-team place at the Etihad Stadium, although could be interested in a cash-plus-player deal. Adam Johnson is a potential makeweight having found his chances limited under Roberto Mancini towards the end of last season.
Agger has had serious injury problems throughout his six years at Liverpool but would represent a major loss to the manager, Brendan Rodgers, should City further their interest. He was omitted from the Liverpool squad that travelled to Belarus to play FC Gomel in the Europa League third qualifying round last week but that, Rodgers later revealed, was to allow the centre-half to work on his conditioning at Melwood. Agger's agent, Per Steffensen, claimed he was unaware of the reason for the omission and denied that Liverpool had offered his client a new contract.
Craig Bellamy is closer to an Anfield exit and could complete a return to Cardiff City within days. Rodgers had wanted to keep the 34-year-old at Liverpool but the club has reluctantly granted the striker's request to be closer to his family in south Wales. Queens Park Rangers are also keen on the Wales international, who is now available to complete a transfer following Team GB's elimination from the Olympic Games, but his preference is to rejoin his hometown club where he spent 2010-11 on loan.
Liverpool are expected to advance efforts to sign Joe Allen following Team GB's elimination at the Olympics and Michael Laudrup, who replaced Rodgers as the Swansea City manager, will hold talks with the £15m-rated midfielder about his future on Wednesday. Swansea have rejected an approach of £12m plus Jonjo Shelvey on a season-long loan from Liverpool and issued a statement accusing Rodgers of reneging on a written agreement not to sign their players for 12 months after his own move to Merseyside.
Laudrup said: "Joe Allen showed up today at the training ground, he did not train but I had a small chat with him, but we did not touch the subject right now. I did not think it was the proper moment, but we will have to talk about that with the player to see what he wants so we can say something official, otherwise the rumours will go on until 31 August, which is not in anyone's interest. On Wednesday he will be back in training with the other two guys who have been at the Olympics and then we will have some talks so it does not go on until the last day of the transfer window."
Manchester City's stance on Arsenal's van Persie makes sense but it was made too late
Taking his comments at face value, Roberto Mancini conceding defeat in trying to sign Robin van Persie provides us with two logical conclusions.
Either the club are not willing to pay around £60 million (Dh343m) for a 29-year-old, £20m fee plus £40m in wages, or van Persie has turned Manchester City down.
With the onset of Financial Fair Play in 2013/14, Premier League clubs are waking up to the potential economic disaster of spending that sort of money on a product with no resale value.
There has been a definite tightening of the belt at the Etihad. In the first two seasons of Abu Dhabi ownership the club spent £127.7m (Dh730m) and then £125m (Dh714.6m) on transfers, in 2011/12 it was a comparatively modest £76m (Dh434.5m).
Losses of £197m (Dh1.1bn) for 2010/11 simply cannot be ignored nor can spending 114 per cent of your turnover on wages.
Bringing in a huge earner like van Persie does little to alleviate the problem. In van Persie’s own personal case there is a growing sense he does feel an obligation to Arsenal not to play for another English club while at the same time Juventus’ interest has tickled his fancy.
Manchester United remain a possibility, however van Persie is simply not in line with their recent transfer policy; in the last nine transfer windows the only player they have signed over 26 was Michael Owen on a free.
But this is not information that would have been unknown to Mancini.
If City couldn’t afford him he would have been told weeks ago. If van Persie is looking elsewhere why continue to pursue him?
Mancini, having signed a new five-year contract, is in a position of stength to play a bit of kidology with the club in the hope more funds are released.
But the brief nature of his comments, just eight words, imply this is not the case. If the deal is dead he’s been wasting his time as United and Chelsea have grown in strength, with the season proper 12 days away.
The reason City have needed to sign van Persie only lies with Mancini. Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko contributed 70 goals last season. While John Guidetti is a talented young forward ready to step up.
Yet van Persie has remained of paramount importance in contrast to providing cover for Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany at centre-back.
Relying on just Stefan Savic and Micah Richards, with a Champions League campaign in mind, is questionable and Daniel Agger from Liverpool makes sense but why at this late stage?
In midfield David Pizarro was brought in on loan as cover in January but has now returned to Roma, Nigel de Jong may still leave while it is a gamble to expect Gareth Barry, at 31, to replicate the 44 games he played last season.
There are an abundance of excellent, young centre midfielders who would be available for a fraction of the price of van Persie; PSV’s Kevin Strootman, Yann M’Vila of Rennes or Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko to name three. While Jose Mourinho is practically offering Nuri Sahin on a plate.
It’s time the van Persie fantasy ended and Mancini started embracing some reality. SPORT
Gael Clichy subject to racism
Manchester City defender Gael Clichy is thought to have been the subject of racism in a pre-season friendly in Ireland, The Telegraph report.
The Premier League champions were playing against Limerick on Sunday, and the France international has since claimed that he was targeted, with a banana thrown onto the pitch.
“How sad to see bananas thrown on the pitch … knowing people around the world need food,” Clichy commented on his Twitter page.
The Irish authorities have pledged to check CCTV cameras to try and ascertain the identity of the guilty parties.
“The Gardai and stadium officials are reviewing the CCTV recordings to attempt to identify an individual involved in the throwing of an offensive object onto the playing field,” a statement reads.
“Any individual identified as being involved in an incident of this nature will be banned from future attendance and the matter will be handed over to the Gardai. All those involved with the friendly game fully condemn all forms of unacceptable behaviour of this nature.”
[spoiler]Jennie Finch
[/spoiler]
OTHER BOLLOX
Juventus are interested in Liverpool's Luis Suarez as they fear that Robin van Persie will decide not to join them. Daily Mirror
Santi Cazorla's move from Malaga to Arsenal has not been officially announced, but the midfielder is already training with Arsene Wenger's squad at a camp in Germany.
PSG are said to be in pole position to sign Moura. Daily Mail
Lucas Moura is said to be favouring a move to Paris St Germain rather than Manchester United, with the 19-year-old rumoured to consider Manchester "boring". talkShite
Inter Milan chairman Massimo Moratti claims his club are out of the running for Moura because PSG have already made Sao Paulo a huge offer to sign him. insidefutbol.com
Jack Sullivan, son of West Ham joint-chairman David, has said on Twitter that the club's interest in Liverpool striker Andy Carroll is over. Daily Mirror
Cardiff City are keen to sign Craig Bellamy from Liverpool, although Mark Hughes would like to add the Welshman to his QPR squad. Daily Mail
Bologna are demanding a fee in the region of £16m for Gaston Ramirez, 21, a target for Liverpool and Tottenham. Inter Milan are also said to be looking at the Uruguayan playmaker. talkShite
Liverpool are set for further talks with Swansea City over midfielder Joe Allen now that the 22-year-old's involvement at the Olympics is over. Metro
Stoke City are in talks to sign Polish international left-back Sebastian Boenisch, 25, who is available after his contract with Werder Bremen expired. Daily Mirror
Ravel Morrison, now on loan at Birmingham City, was flown home from West Ham's pre-season tour because he needed to have seven teeth removed. Daily Mail
Cristiano Ronaldo says he may follow former Manchester United winger David Beckham and play in Major League Soccer in the United States later in his career. The Sun
MORE BOLLOX LATER
Manchester City have shifted their transfer policy and are now prepared to spend before selling Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz.
The Blues suggested at the start of the transfer window that they needed to shift Adebayor and Santa Cruz, and one of their frontline strikers, Edin Dzeko or Carlos Tevez, in order to make room for any major purchase.
That was a nod to UEFA’s financial fair play rules, as City do not want to be seen to be flouting the rregulations, aimed at forcing clubs to keep spending and wages at a sustainable level.
But with Adebayor digging in his heels over personal terms after City agreed a £5.5million deal with Spurs, and Santa Cruz also finding it tough to secure a move, the philosophy has changed.
Mancini has not been impressed with the way the club has handled its strategy, with tensions resurfacing with City football administrator Brian Marwood and he has persuaded chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak that the Blues cannot jeopardise their chances of bringing in new players by hanging on until others are sold.
City agreed a deal with Tottenham a fortnight ago, but Adebayor wanted a big signing-on fee to make up for the big drop in wages he would have to take, from his £170,000 a week at the Etihad Stadium.
Neither Spurs nor City are willing to stump up the kind of money Adebayor wants, and that is in danger of killing the deal entirely.
Spurs are already looking at other options, including Brazil’s Olympian star Leandro Damiao.
Mancini has made it plain to Adebayor that he will be left to rot on the vine if he does not lower his personal demands.
The Togolese striker has been back at Carrington for training, but has not been included in any of City’s pre-season plans.
Mancini has more sympathy for Santa Cruz, who has been eyeing a permanent move to either Real Betis, where he spent last season on loan, or a club in northern England, which would mean he does not have to uproot his kids from school in Bowdon.
Betis could not afford to pay City’s asking price, and there have been no significant bids for the Paraguay striker. Santa Cruz has been included in pre-season plans, scoring at Oldham last week and and playing as a substitute in the friendly at Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Even if City do get Adebayor and Santa Cruz off their wage bill, they would still have to sell one of their four frontline strikers to make room.
With Tevez appearing more settled and happy than ever, it is Dzeko whose future is the cloudiest, even though Mancini claimed in his interview it was unlikely he would be leaving.
Juventus and AC Milan are both keen, but neither is willing to pay the £20million-plus the Blues want for him. MuEN
Manchester City told that Liverpool's Daniel Agger would cost £22m-plus
City make informal approach for Denmark international
Manchester City have been told they will have to pay more than £22m to lure Daniel Agger from Liverpool, having made an informal approach for the Denmark international.
The Premier League champions have registered their interest in the 27-year-old with Liverpool, who are reluctant to lose the stylish defender but have yet to finalise a new contract with a player who has two years remaining on his current deal.
City value Agger at about £18m, though have not submitted an offer, but it would take an improved fee to tempt Liverpool to sell. The Anfield club considers the £22m that City paid to Everton for Joleon Lescott in 2009 as a benchmark figure on Agger, a player who would threaten the England international's first-team place at the Etihad Stadium, although could be interested in a cash-plus-player deal. Adam Johnson is a potential makeweight having found his chances limited under Roberto Mancini towards the end of last season.
Agger has had serious injury problems throughout his six years at Liverpool but would represent a major loss to the manager, Brendan Rodgers, should City further their interest. He was omitted from the Liverpool squad that travelled to Belarus to play FC Gomel in the Europa League third qualifying round last week but that, Rodgers later revealed, was to allow the centre-half to work on his conditioning at Melwood. Agger's agent, Per Steffensen, claimed he was unaware of the reason for the omission and denied that Liverpool had offered his client a new contract.
Craig Bellamy is closer to an Anfield exit and could complete a return to Cardiff City within days. Rodgers had wanted to keep the 34-year-old at Liverpool but the club has reluctantly granted the striker's request to be closer to his family in south Wales. Queens Park Rangers are also keen on the Wales international, who is now available to complete a transfer following Team GB's elimination from the Olympic Games, but his preference is to rejoin his hometown club where he spent 2010-11 on loan.
Liverpool are expected to advance efforts to sign Joe Allen following Team GB's elimination at the Olympics and Michael Laudrup, who replaced Rodgers as the Swansea City manager, will hold talks with the £15m-rated midfielder about his future on Wednesday. Swansea have rejected an approach of £12m plus Jonjo Shelvey on a season-long loan from Liverpool and issued a statement accusing Rodgers of reneging on a written agreement not to sign their players for 12 months after his own move to Merseyside.
Laudrup said: "Joe Allen showed up today at the training ground, he did not train but I had a small chat with him, but we did not touch the subject right now. I did not think it was the proper moment, but we will have to talk about that with the player to see what he wants so we can say something official, otherwise the rumours will go on until 31 August, which is not in anyone's interest. On Wednesday he will be back in training with the other two guys who have been at the Olympics and then we will have some talks so it does not go on until the last day of the transfer window."
Manchester City's stance on Arsenal's van Persie makes sense but it was made too late
Taking his comments at face value, Roberto Mancini conceding defeat in trying to sign Robin van Persie provides us with two logical conclusions.
Either the club are not willing to pay around £60 million (Dh343m) for a 29-year-old, £20m fee plus £40m in wages, or van Persie has turned Manchester City down.
With the onset of Financial Fair Play in 2013/14, Premier League clubs are waking up to the potential economic disaster of spending that sort of money on a product with no resale value.
There has been a definite tightening of the belt at the Etihad. In the first two seasons of Abu Dhabi ownership the club spent £127.7m (Dh730m) and then £125m (Dh714.6m) on transfers, in 2011/12 it was a comparatively modest £76m (Dh434.5m).
Losses of £197m (Dh1.1bn) for 2010/11 simply cannot be ignored nor can spending 114 per cent of your turnover on wages.
Bringing in a huge earner like van Persie does little to alleviate the problem. In van Persie’s own personal case there is a growing sense he does feel an obligation to Arsenal not to play for another English club while at the same time Juventus’ interest has tickled his fancy.
Manchester United remain a possibility, however van Persie is simply not in line with their recent transfer policy; in the last nine transfer windows the only player they have signed over 26 was Michael Owen on a free.
But this is not information that would have been unknown to Mancini.
If City couldn’t afford him he would have been told weeks ago. If van Persie is looking elsewhere why continue to pursue him?
Mancini, having signed a new five-year contract, is in a position of stength to play a bit of kidology with the club in the hope more funds are released.
But the brief nature of his comments, just eight words, imply this is not the case. If the deal is dead he’s been wasting his time as United and Chelsea have grown in strength, with the season proper 12 days away.
The reason City have needed to sign van Persie only lies with Mancini. Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko contributed 70 goals last season. While John Guidetti is a talented young forward ready to step up.
Yet van Persie has remained of paramount importance in contrast to providing cover for Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany at centre-back.
Relying on just Stefan Savic and Micah Richards, with a Champions League campaign in mind, is questionable and Daniel Agger from Liverpool makes sense but why at this late stage?
In midfield David Pizarro was brought in on loan as cover in January but has now returned to Roma, Nigel de Jong may still leave while it is a gamble to expect Gareth Barry, at 31, to replicate the 44 games he played last season.
There are an abundance of excellent, young centre midfielders who would be available for a fraction of the price of van Persie; PSV’s Kevin Strootman, Yann M’Vila of Rennes or Toulouse’s Moussa Sissoko to name three. While Jose Mourinho is practically offering Nuri Sahin on a plate.
It’s time the van Persie fantasy ended and Mancini started embracing some reality. SPORT
Gael Clichy subject to racism
Manchester City defender Gael Clichy is thought to have been the subject of racism in a pre-season friendly in Ireland, The Telegraph report.
The Premier League champions were playing against Limerick on Sunday, and the France international has since claimed that he was targeted, with a banana thrown onto the pitch.
“How sad to see bananas thrown on the pitch … knowing people around the world need food,” Clichy commented on his Twitter page.
The Irish authorities have pledged to check CCTV cameras to try and ascertain the identity of the guilty parties.
“The Gardai and stadium officials are reviewing the CCTV recordings to attempt to identify an individual involved in the throwing of an offensive object onto the playing field,” a statement reads.
“Any individual identified as being involved in an incident of this nature will be banned from future attendance and the matter will be handed over to the Gardai. All those involved with the friendly game fully condemn all forms of unacceptable behaviour of this nature.”
[spoiler]Jennie Finch
[/spoiler] OTHER BOLLOX
Juventus are interested in Liverpool's Luis Suarez as they fear that Robin van Persie will decide not to join them. Daily Mirror
Santi Cazorla's move from Malaga to Arsenal has not been officially announced, but the midfielder is already training with Arsene Wenger's squad at a camp in Germany.
PSG are said to be in pole position to sign Moura. Daily Mail
Lucas Moura is said to be favouring a move to Paris St Germain rather than Manchester United, with the 19-year-old rumoured to consider Manchester "boring". talkShite
Inter Milan chairman Massimo Moratti claims his club are out of the running for Moura because PSG have already made Sao Paulo a huge offer to sign him. insidefutbol.com
Jack Sullivan, son of West Ham joint-chairman David, has said on Twitter that the club's interest in Liverpool striker Andy Carroll is over. Daily Mirror
Cardiff City are keen to sign Craig Bellamy from Liverpool, although Mark Hughes would like to add the Welshman to his QPR squad. Daily Mail
Bologna are demanding a fee in the region of £16m for Gaston Ramirez, 21, a target for Liverpool and Tottenham. Inter Milan are also said to be looking at the Uruguayan playmaker. talkShite
Liverpool are set for further talks with Swansea City over midfielder Joe Allen now that the 22-year-old's involvement at the Olympics is over. Metro
Stoke City are in talks to sign Polish international left-back Sebastian Boenisch, 25, who is available after his contract with Werder Bremen expired. Daily Mirror
Ravel Morrison, now on loan at Birmingham City, was flown home from West Ham's pre-season tour because he needed to have seven teeth removed. Daily Mail
Cristiano Ronaldo says he may follow former Manchester United winger David Beckham and play in Major League Soccer in the United States later in his career. The Sun
MORE BOLLOX LATER