Roma tempt Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini with £4.5 million-a-year offer to return to Serie A
Roma are prepared to take advantage of Roberto Mancini’s uncertain future at Manchester City by offering a £4.5 million-a-year contract to bring the Italian back to Serie A this summer.
Mancini, who has rejected ongoing speculation over his future at the Etihad Stadium by claiming, ‘over the last 15 months, I am the best manager in England,’ is less than 12 months into the five-year deal, worth £7.5 million a season, he signed after guiding City to the Premier League title last term.
But with City falling 12 points adrift of league leaders Manchester United after suffering a second successive group stage exit from the Champions League, Mancini’s position is under growing threat.
This season’s arrival at the club of chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain has done little to banish doubts over Mancini’s future, with the former Barcelona pair yet to issue any kind of public backing for the former Inter Milan coach.
Mancini, who travelled to Genoa last week to watch Roma against Sampdoria, has emerged as the front-runner for the Roma job, however, following the sacking of Zdenek Zeman earlier this month.
Roma’s American owners have placed veteran coach Aurelio Andreazzoli in charge of the team until the end of the season, but club president James Pallotta has general manager Franco Baldini with the task of recruiting a high-profile coach this summer to spark a ‘renaissance’ at the Olympic Stadium.
Having handed Zeman a £1.5 million-a-year contract, Pallotta is ready to treble that salary in order to attract a leading coach and Mancini is the favoured option ahead of Carlo Ancelotti, whose position as Paris St Germain manager has been undermined by reports linking Jose Mourinho with a move from Real Madrid.
Although Mancini played and managed Roma’s city rivals Lazio, it is understood that Roma are unconcerned by his links to their co-tenants at the Olympic Stadium and that a move for the Manchester City manager will be triggered if it becomes clear that the Premier League champions are to seek a new manager.
City defender Kolo Toure has added to the uncertainty surrounding Mancini by claiming the team must win a trophy this season to safeguard his position.
City remain in contention to lift the FA Cup this season following Sunday’s fifth-round victory against Leeds United and a draw at home to Barnsley in the quarter-finals and Toure admits the trophy could be crucial for Mancini.
“It is very important for the players to win [a trophy], because that will help the manager to be here for sure,” Toure said. “We don’t want to end a season without winning something.
“I don’t know [if there will be changes]. That’s up to the board and the manager, but as player, we are just here to win.
“It is hard for City now. We have delivered and we need to maintain that by winning trophies.”
City strike for Neymar! Champions make move in race to land £55m-rated
Manchester City, the club with the biggest spending power in the Barclays Premier League, have made the first move in the race to sign Brazil star Neymar.
City’s top two executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain are said to have held initial talks with Neymar’s family and his representatives in a box at Wembley on the night of England’s friendly against Brazil on February 6.
Chief executive Soriano and director of football Begiristain were guests of the FA in the VIP Wembley suite for the 150th anniversary match.
But the pair went to the trouble of visiting the IMG hospitality box - located on the other side of the stadium - in order to make contact with the Neymar camp and were spotted during their half-circuit of the corporate areas.
Sports management giants IMG are understood to have been entertaining Neymar’s father Neymar da Silva and the £55m-rated player’s marketing team from IMX Talent. The company is a joint venture with IMG to exploit sports business opportunities in Brazil.
They took control of Neymar’s off-field image rights and career guidance last July. He is under contract at Brazilian side Santos until the 2014 World Cup which takes place in Brazil.
The 21-year-old striker is expected to make his inevitable big-money move to Europe that summer, after a tournament which could dramatically increase his value.
There was much hype surrounding Neymar’s appearance in this country earlier this month but despite playing 90 minutes at Wembley the youngster failed to impress as England deservedly won the friendly 2-1.
That has not deterred top clubs like Barcelona from wanting to sign him and the Spanish giants are seen as one of the favourites for his signature.
But Abu Dhabi-owned City can afford to offer Neymar a similar package or better and have put down the first marker.
It also might be relevant that Spanish compatriots Soriano and Begiristain used to work together at Barcelona - reported to be the preferred choice of Neymar senior for his son - and could persuade the family to make the move to Manchester instead.
On Monday night, City were not prepared to comment.
Dortmund target £20m City striker Dzeko as replacement for outgoing Lewandowski
Edin Dzeko has been linked with a return to Germany as Borussia Dortmund consider a £20million swoop for the Manchester City striker.
The 26-year-old has been unable to hold down a regular starting place at the Etihad despite scoring 13 goals this season.
And the Bosnian will accept a pay cut in the summer and join Dortmund as a replacement for Bayern Munich-bound Robert Lewandowski, according the The Sun.
Dzeko joined City from Wolfsburg for £27m two years ago but has been unable to displace Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero from the side.
Dortmund are resigned to losing Lewandowski to their rivals, having hoped he would instead join Manchester City.
Kolo Toure wraps up a parting gift
The Blues defender, one of the stars of a solid City performance against Leeds which saw them into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday, is resigned to going in June, when his current deal runs out.
Kolo Toure has admitted he will be leaving City in the summer – but wants to help manager Roberto Mancini and some of his team-mates keep THEIR jobs.
The Blues defender, one of the stars of a solid City performance against Leeds which saw them into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday, is resigned to going in June, when his current deal runs out.
City were willing to let him go last summer but Kolo turned down lucrative offers from two Turkish clubs as he wanted to remain in the Premier League.
He says that all talk of his future is shelved until there is nothing left to play for this season.
But he is hoping to land a deal with another English club, saying: “My agent is working on that but at the moment I’m playing at City and doing everything I can do to help City win trophies – that’s important.
“I have always liked the Premier League and I want to stay in the top leagues but time goes and if there is no chance I have to go where they want me.
“Didier Drogba is in Turkey – but it’s difficult to talk about that now – there’s no chance of staying here but the Premier is my first option for sure.”
Kolo still hopes that a strong finish to the season by the team can help to ensure manager Mancini remains.
The boss’s performance will be assessed, along with those of his players, at the end of the campaign. Said Kolo: “It’s very important for the players, for us to win, because that will help the manager to be here – we don’t want to have a season without winning something.
“That is hard for City now. We delivered last season and we need to maintain that by winning trophies.
“For a team like City it’s difficult to go for a season without winning a trophy, so for us the FA Cup is really important and the league as well because we want to maintain this trophy.”
Mancini’s position has been questioned following the team’s poor showing in the Champions League and the fact they have fallen 12 points behind leaders United in the Premier League.
But the players will also come under scrutiny.
“That’s up to the board, to the manager,”added Kolo. “As players we are just here to win and all the players we have got were used to winning before they came here.
“We will fight to win – that’s most important – and we don’t know what will happen.
“When you win the Premier League for the first time you want to keep it. It’s very difficult at the moment but I think the season is not finished.”
Kolo, who has already suffered the disappointment of losing in the African Nations Cup last month, said the Blues intended to make United fight all the way to the end.
“We are not going to give up now – we will keep going, putting United under pressure until the end of the season. What happened last season can maybe happen again,” he said.
Many onlookers thought the departure of the Toure brothers, especially the influential Yaya, would prove to be City’s toughest part of the season.
But the Blues began that period with league wins over Arsenal and Fulham and FA Cup triumphs against Watford and Stoke, before successive draws with QPR and Liverpool made Yaya’s absence felt.
Said Kolo: “The team was doing well while we were in South Africa. We saw a couple of games and we were winning and we were really happy for that, definitely.
“It’s nice to be back and playing – especially winning – and I think it was a very important game. Leeds beat Tottenham and we knew that it was going to be a hard game. From the first minute we just worked hard and Yaya scored.”
The convincing win over Leeds ended a three-match winless streak for the Blues and it was necessary to restore belief before next Sunday’s showdown with Chelsea, who could close to a point behind City with a win at the Etihad.
“I think that’s very important,” said Kolo. “We are looking over our shoulders as well – Chelsea are coming and we just need to run from them.
“It’s always difficult for a team like City to play three games without wining any of them. It was really important to get back to winning and we did it very well – now there is a big game coming so we need to forget about Sunday.”
'Love you son' - Aguero's birthday present to son Ben
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero dedicated his double strike against Leeds to his son Ben, who is celebrating his fourth birthday.
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero celebrates against Leeds, he has the name of his son Benjamin tattooed on his arm
Sergio Aguero blasted back to goalscoring form as a birthday present to his young son.
The City striker scored twice as the Blues despatched Leeds 4-0 in the FA Cup fifth round, with his son Benjamin watching from the stand with his mother Giannina Maradona.
Aguero and Giannina have separated, but mother and child have returned to Manchester so the youngster can spend his fourth birthday with his dad on Tuesday.
Aguero duly obliged his son’s request for a goal, and afterwards tweeted: “Did Ben ask me to score for him again...? Twice! I made good of it, esp. bc he’s coming to spend his 4th bday with me. Love you, son!”
The City striker - whose son's Godfather is Lionel Messi - was named as man of the match and also said the performance was just the boost the team needed.
“We needed a game like this - playing the ball right, with precision on the attack and without a single goal against,” he said.
On a bright day for the Blues, manager Roberto Mancini said Vincent Kompany will give a lift to their faint hopes of staying in the Premier League title race by returning against Chelsea next week.
The skipper’s absence through a calf injury has coincided with the Blues’ worst run of the season, with two draws and the capitulation at Southampton.
But Kompany could have played in the FA Cup win over Leeds had it been deemed necessary by Mancini – and is almost certain to come back in Sunday’s showdown, when City are also looking over their shoulders in a bid to stay in second place.
Gareth Barry should also be fit after an ankle injury saved Mancini from making a tough decision on the midfielder, one of his most consistent players this season, but who had a personal nightmare at St Mary’s.
Said Mancini of Barry: “He had a problem with his ankle and we didn't want to take any risk. It is not serious.”
Javi Garcia was the only doubt to arise from the game, taken off after an hour, and his injury is being assessed.
Jack Rodwell also got a run-out for half an hour, his longest spell on the pitch since early October, and he is convinced that he has now solved the persistent problem of the hamstring injuries which have plagued him both for Everton last season, and for City in the current campaign.
More good news for the Blues is that Micah Richards, now the only first-teamer left in a once-crowded injury treatment room, is three weeks away, so could be in contention for the quarter-final.
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[/spoiler]Tottenham are lining up a summer swoop for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, 22. Daily Mirror
Former Tottenham and Wigan defender Pascal Chimbonda, 33, is on trial with MLS club Chicago Fire, with a view to a permanent deal. talkSHIT
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will splash out £70m in the summer to strengthen his squad. Metro
Athletic Bilbao defender Fernando Amorebieta, 27, is a target for Arsenal. Daily Mirror
Barcelona right-back Dani Alves, 29, has urged his club to sign England midfielder Jack Wilshere, 21, from Arsenal. Daily Telegraph
Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, 30, has again ruled out a summer move to Barcelona but hopes Tottenham midfielder Gareth Bale, 23, leaves the Premier League to join Real Madrid. Sky Sports
Former England coach Fabio Capello says Mario Balotelli has "surprised" him since his move to AC Milan. Capello, who is now in charge of the Russian national team, praised the striker's commitment and team spirit, adding: "I never saw him like this at City or at Inter." Tuttosport
Atletico Madrid may attempt to sign Bayern Munich's Mario Gomez, 27, to replace Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, 27, who is being targeted by several top European clubs, including Manchester City and Chelsea. AS
Bayern president Uli Hoeness has said he does not expect coach Jupp Heynckes to move to Schalke after he leaves Munich, where he will be replaced by Pep Guardiola, at the end of the season. "This is probably an April Fool's joke," Hoeness said of the rumours first circulated by Bild newspaper. Suddeutsche Zeitung
Arsenal midfielder Santiago Cazorla, 28, says the Gunners' Champions League opponents Bayern Munich are the favourites to win the tournament, along with Barcelona. Marca
Brendan Rodgers says defender Jamie Carragher, 35, will be offered a position at Liverpool when he retires from playing at the end of this season. talkSHIT
Paolo Di Canio's decision to resign as Swindon manager has paved the way for him to return to former club West Ham. Daily Mirror
BT target Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, 34, to become their leading football analyst next season as they kick-off their coverage of the Premier League. DSSC
Chelsea captain John Terry, 32, believes supporters have a right to criticise interim manager Rafa Benitez if the results remain poor. Independent
Terry also wants Chelsea to offer midfielder Frank Lampard, 34, a new contract. Daily Telegraph
Chelsea are ready to offer Lampard a new deal - they are expected to sit down with the player and his representatives over the "next week or so" to extend his career at Stamford Bridge. Daily Express
Midfielder David Bentley says he can win over the Blackburn Rovers fans after he rejoined the club on loan from Tottenham last week. The 28-year-old forced a move from Rovers in 2008. Daily Star
Former England boss Steve McClaren is fighting for his job as FC Twente manager - with the club's fans demanding he gets the sack. Daily Mirror
Oldham's late equaliser against Everton in their FA Cup fifth round tie will reportedly earn them around £500,000. With these extra funds coming into the club, maybe Oldham's players will be able to give their shirts to the fans following the final whistle in the replay at Goodison Park. DSSC
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