Friday's B*ll*x

[Chinners]

Manchester City line up bid for Lazio star
Juventus are ready to rival Manchester City in the battle to sign Lazio defender Stefan Radu.
Roberto Mancini is keen on the 24-year-old Romanian and he has a good relationship with Lazio, having managed them between 1997 and 2000.
The City manager also signed Alexander Kolarov from the Serie A side in the summer and he's ready to return again and make a bid for Radu.
City are in a strong position when it comes to negotiations as Radu's contract - just like Wayne Rooney's - ends in 2012.
Manchester United striker Rooney has emerged as a shock target for City having fallen out with Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.
And while Mancini has remained coy on a possible move, he is undoubtedly ready to make a bid for the striker when the transfer window opens.
Mancini will focus his efforts on luring Rooney to Eastlands and he could miss out on Radu as a result, with Juventus weighting in the wings.
Lazio would prefer to offload Radu in January as they will be able to get the most money possible for him at that stage, with the Romanian ready to run down his contract.

Hat-trick hero Emmanuel Adebayor primed to face Arsenal
Adebayor's hat-trick was the first by a City player in European competition
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini says Emmanuel Adebayor could start against former club Arsenal on Saturday following his Europa League hat-trick.
The striker scored the first European hat-trick by a City player in a 3-1 win over Lech Poznan on Thursday.
"It is possible he could play against Arsenal," said Mancini.
"For a striker it is important to play well and his performance was excellent. But it is very important for them to score goals as well."
Adebayor had yet to score this season, prior to Thursday's game at Eastlands, with seven-goal top-scorer Carlos Tevez taking most of the plaudits.
But with Tevez rested, Adebayor stepped into the limelight with a superb display of finishing to put the Polish champions to the sword and send City top of Europa League Group A by three points.
Tevez is certain to return for Saturday's match against Arsenal at Eastlands and Mancini believes that he can accommodate both players in his starting line-up.
"It is not a problem," said Mancini. "They played together against Blackpool. It is normal for my teams to play with two strikers. That is what I usually like to do."
Adebayor scored his first after 12 minutes, collecting a pass from Patrick Vieira before turning his marker and finishing neatly from the edge of the area.
His second was a 24th-minute header from a David Silva cross, with the Spaniard also providing the assist for his third - a close-range side-foot finish in the second half.
While Adebayor took the headlines, Silva played an excellent supporting role in what was a strong performance by City, which only dipped slightly in a 20-minute spell after half-time, during which Lech scored their goal through Joel Tshibamba.
"For David Silva it is easy to play football," claimed Mancini. "Everything is easy for him."
"As a team, I thought we played very well in the first half. We scored two goals and did some good things.
"But we were ordinary in the first 20 minutes of the second. For a little while I was a bit afraid because I thought Lech could cause some problems. But the third goal finished the game."
Lech manager Jacek Zielinski was not too downhearted to lose a game he feels will be the toughest they will face in the group.
"Manchester City played extremely well," he admitted. "It was a good lesson for us.
"We had some plans but the reality turned out to be somewhat different."

Leicester City sign Cunningham from Manchester City
Cunningham has played against Algeria and Argentina
Leicester City have signed Manchester City full-back Greg Cunningham on loan until January.
The 19-year-old left-back is a product of the Premier League side's academy and has won two full caps for the Republic of Ireland.
Cunningham is new Foxes boss Sven-Goran Eriksson's fourth signing, following the arrival of Kyle Naughton, Curtis Davies and Darius Vassell.
He will be available for Saturday's Championship game against Swansea City.

SAD BOLLOX
United fans threaten Rooney at home to ward off City move
Balaclava-clad group target striker's house as Evra says team-mate should not play for club again
Wayne Rooney was visited at his Cheshire home last night by a gang of militant Manchester United supporters wearing balaclavas and with a banner threatening him personally if he chose to join Manchester City.
Early reports last night said that Rooney, whose shock decision not to sign a new contract at United first came to light on Sunday, came to the window of his house but did not venture further. There were suggestions that the banner made a death threat against Rooney although that could not be confirmed yesterday.
Cheshire police last night said that they were called to the disturbance in Prestbury, the village that is also home to Rooney's team-mate Wes Brown. Hardcore United fan groups have used the tactic of going to a player's home before with Rio Ferdinand when he prevaricated over signing his last contract with the club.
Expanding story bollox: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 13169.html
MCF.NET THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=35320

Wayne Rooney will enable Manchester City to 'win everything' says Carlos Tevez
Carlos Tévez has fuelled Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan's appetite for an audacious deal to bring Wayne Rooney to Eastlands, telling him: "With Wayne we will win everything."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... Tevez.html

U-TURN BOLLOX
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has performed an amazing U-turn by telling Red Devils boss sir Alex Ferguson he does not want to quit Old Trafford.Daily Mirror

WAG OF THE DAY

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4967 ... eek#page/3

TRANSFER BOLLOX
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has stunned Real Madrid by demanding to become the highest paid Galactico if he joins Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu. Daily Mail

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is looking to sign AC Milan youngster Alexandre Pato as a direct replacement for Rooney if the England man leaves Old Trafford. caughtoffside.com

Liverpool's new owners plan showdown talks with striker Fernando Torres next week, with Manchester United and Barcelona interested in signing the Spaniard. Daily Star

The Anfield club are considering making a move for Hapoel Tel Aviv striker Itay Shechter in January, although Tottenham, Everton and West Ham are also in the hunt. Daily Mail

Aston Villa winger Ashley Young has called a dramatic halt to contract negotiations with the club. the Sun

Young wants a buy-out clause in his new Aston Villa contract, with Spurs said to be interested in the England international. Daily Mirror

Ex-Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires is in talks with Conference side Crawley over a potential move. talkSPORT

Championship leaders QPR want to reinforce their squad with the loan capture of versatile Arsenal attacker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. Daily Mail

Bolton boss Owen Coyle will open contract talks with Johan Elmander in the next few weeks, with the striker free to talk to other clubs from January. the Sun

Former Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard is close to replacing Roy Hodgson as Liverpool's new boss. caughtoffside.com

Blackburn are close to a takeover by VH Group, an Indian chicken company. Daily Mirror

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe is a month ahead of schedule in his return from ankle surgery. Defoe was expected to be out until Christmas but he could now be back by the end of November - in time for their final two Champions League group games against Werder Bremen and FC Twente. Daily Star

England's 2018 World Cup bid is set for a major boost when it is named the stand-out candidate to host the tournament by Fifa. Daily Mirror

The Scottish Players Union are again on alert over the late payment of wages at Hearts. (Daily Record)

[halnone]

I hope Ade starts against Arsenal

[mr_nool]

Lovely wag chinners!

Btw, any one knows how Garrido is doing in Lazio? Who are we gonna send the other way this time? I want the obvious suspect, Zabba, to stay.

[Renato_CTID]

http://www.tuttosport.com/scommesse/sco ... ude+a+2,25

Is our brave sheick in touch to buy Serie B glorious club Torino FC? Granata fans here in Torino are so excited and ask me every day if it's really true that City will have a new satellite squad!

[Chinners]

I'm sorry! Wayne Rooney apologises to Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson... and fans are next
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed Wayne Rooney has apologised after ending a turbulent few days by agreeing a five-year contract with Manchester United.
The announcement was made by the Old Trafford club this lunchtime, ending one of the most amazing weeks in their history, which started with hints at unrest and included Rooney's own concerns about the direction United were heading in.
'Wayne has apologised to me and the players,' Ferguson told Key103. 'He will also do so with the supporters.'
U-turn: Wayne Rooney is now staying put at United
Former United midfielder Clayton Blackmore felt that Rooney had no option but to take such action. He said on Sky Sports News: 'He came out with a few things, saying the squad wasn't good enough and the ambition wasn't there. But the ambition's always there.
'I think he knew he had to apologise and I think everything will be swept under the carpet now and carry on where we left off about a month ago, before it all started.'
Blackmore added: 'It think it just shows how strong and how powerful the manager is.'
The former Wales international continued: 'Things like this, when it looks like we've lost him and things have gone too far, now they've gone back together, it could work even better for us.
'Wayne could end up being an even better player, you just don't know.'
Meanwhile Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger played down the magnitude of the story and admitted his only surprise was at United's initial willingness to make the news public.
'Once the club came out and said they couldn't find agreement, it was a message they wanted to sell,' he said.
'There's not a lot to talk about, when a player with 18 months on his contract speaks with his club. The only surprise for me was Manchester United came out and said that.
'It was just a story that for me, from the start to the end, was completely out of interest. When I saw headlines I just turned the page.'

Collymore: Rooney bottled it at the 11th hour Stan Collymore believes Wayne Rooney “bottled” a move to away from Manchester United at the 11th hour before committing to a new five-year contract.
The much maligned talkSport pundit suggests the 24-year-old England international had a deal in place with one of Rooney's alleged suitors believed to be their Premier League rivals Manchester City and Chelsea, in addition to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but at the last minute he pulled the plug on what would have been one of the most controversial transfers in recent history.
Collymore told talkSport: “There is no way this has been manufactured by Wayne and Stretford to get a better deal at United.
“The simple fact is Wayne bottled it at the 11th hour. He was preparing to go somewhere else then at the last minute he decided where it is better.
“He said two days ago that he wanted to go somewhere else then all of a sudden he is staying. That’s not manufactured – that is him changing his mind at 11:59 and 59 seconds.
“He had it all sorted, then he found himself in the situation where he saw how big this had got over the last two days.
“He thought about how he’d need security guards and protection and thought it was more bother than it was worth.”