Mario Balotelli’s hair-raising antics on and off the pitch have kept fans talking about him all season and the attention will continue this summer when the Manchester City striker travels to Euro 2012.
The 21-year-old is in the Italy squad for their assault at the European Championships in Poland/Ukraine, and to prepare for the tournament, Balotelli appears to be on a mission to create an iconic haircut
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David Silva to Real Madrid is front page news in Spain, should City be worried?
They like splashing transfer targets over all over the press in Spain, if a La Liga club wants a player then the Spanish press seem to feel a duty to assist them in getting their man. AS.com today use David Silva as their cover star and say Real Madrid want the Manchester City star to replace Kaka.
Kaka is likely to be off this summer with big spending PSG the likely candidates for the Brazilian. Injury, form, and an inability to force himself into the centre of Jose Mourinho's plans have combined to make sure that he hasn't really done it at Real Madrid.
The La Liga champions have also been linked to City's Yaya Toure but that seems to be more his agent at work than anything more concrete.
AS say that a call has been made to the people who represent Silva to ask if the Spanish player would be interested in a move and therefore whether it's worth Real Madrid presenting a bid to City.
The Premier League champions would obviously be unwilling to sell but if Silva wants the move then it could become complicated for them to keep him. AS don't say what the response to the call was or whether they believe Silva is up for it.
Real Madrid were interested when the midfielder originally left Valencia but ended up plumping for Wrder Bremen's Mesut Ozil instead, an impressive World Cup helping put icing on the value transfer.
City reward Mancini with offer of three-year £15m contract deal
Manchester City have formally opened talks with Roberto Mancini over a new £15million contract.
Speculation has been rife for the last six months that the manager of the Barclays Premier League champions would be offered a new deal at the Etihad Stadium this summer.
But Sportsmail can reveal that City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak finally sat down with Mancini for talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon and those discussions continued throughout the weekend.
City want to reward the Italian with a new three-year deal worth £5m a year. That represents a significant improvement on the £3.5m contract Mancini signed when he arrived at the club two-and-a-half years ago.
Mancini flew to the Middle East last Tuesday morning with his assistant David Platt and football administrator Brian Marwood. Mancini and Platt were congratulated on winning the league title by City owner Sheik Mansour before the manager was invited to stay on for contract talks as the others flew back to Manchester last Thursday.
As of Sunday night, City had not reached complete agreement with their manager and that is why there has not been an announcement yet.
However, the club do expect to have the deal signed and sealed before Mancini leaves on a family holiday at the end of the week.
A £5m-a-year deal would see Mancini leapfrog Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of salary but would still leave him behind Arsene Wenger, who earns £6m a year at Arsenal
Kenny Burns: City are worthy champions, but Tevez did not deserve medal
THE Blue Moon is rising, but Carlos Tevez keeps on falling.
Man City fully deserved to beat Man United to the Premier League title and they should enjoy every moment of it.
But it really sticks in my throat that Tevez was given a winner's medal and I'm sure even some City fans think the same.
This is a player who this season refused to warm up during a game in Europe, who went AWOL, who said he wanted to leave and that manager Roberto Mancini treated him like a dog before returning to the Etihad with his tail between his legs before the end of the season.
On what planet does he deserve a winner's medal? If I was Mancini, I would never have let him set foot back in the club.
As if that was not enough, he then held up a 'RIP Fergie' banner during City's title celebrations.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson deserves more respect than that, but then Tevez knows nothing about respect does he?
I never thought he could fall further in my estimation after his ridiculous antics during the season, but he has.
Forgotten man Gerry Gow’s back in the limelight
Former Manchester City star Gerry Gow and inset in his City pomp
Gerry Gow isn’t like City’s other former players. He isn’t an ambassador for the club or employed as a television pundit.
He doesn’t write a column in the programme or make appearances at supporters clubs.
Instead Gow, who made more than 500 league appearances and played in the 1981 FA Cup final against Tottenham, stacks shelves at his local Tesco in Dorset to make ends meet.
He has, however, some wonderful memories.
“My time at Manchester City remains a highlight of my career,” said Gow, 59.
“To play in the centre of midfield at one of the leading clubs in English football was such an honour. I immediately felt at home with both the lads in the team and especially the fans.
“To have played in the 100th cup final was a dream come true, albeit we did not come home to Manchester with the trophy, which remains a regret.
“I will never forget the time I spent there and will always feel part of the cub. I am, of course, delighted with the recent success of winning the league and long may the success continue.”
Gow joined City from Bristol City in 1981 before going on to play for Rotherham and Burnley and managing Yeovil.
It was a playing career that made an impression on nearly everyone who came across the Scottish midfielder – including Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I remember Gerry when I was manager of St Mirren and we played in the Anglo Scottish Cup final against Bristol City,” said Ferguson.
“We lost that game, but Gerry was always a tenacious tackler, a determined little lad who did not have a physique that would frighten you but he was a terrier, a real terrier.”
More than 30 years after he left Bristol City, the club have granted Gow a testimonial. A team of Bristol City legends will play the City legends team at Ashton Gate on July 28 and Gow is hopeful City supporters will turn out in numbers.
He added: “It would be fantastic if any City fans can make it down and I am extremely grateful to Paul Lake for arranging through Derrick Partridge to assemble the City legends team to come and play at Ashton Gate.”
Man City, Chelsea wins see power start to shift
Chelsea's late surge to glory, which saw them crowned European champions on Saturday, means that two of the richest clubs in England achieved breakthrough triumphs within a week of each other, suggesting soccer's balance of power could well be shifting.
The weekend after Manchester City, enriched by Arab oil money since 2009, took the Premier League title, Chelsea, bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich since 2003, won the Champions League for the first time in Munich on Saturday.
Their 4-3 penalty shootout win over Bayern Munich, in the Germans' own backyard, means Abramovich has now won the trophy he has dreamed of since buying into the club and transforming their fortunes nine years ago.
They also won the FA Cup this month but, perhaps just as importantly, their late-season form and triumphs after a poor start to the campaign point to a strong title challenge next season.
Manchester City's league title followed on from their 2011 FA Cup success, which was their first major trophy for 35 years.
Both clubs have been re-born, with City's recent rise, after Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan took control three years ago, proving even more dramatic than Chelsea's.
The reason these successes could prove significant is that both clubs have broken new ground.
The wealth at the disposal of the respective owners, notwithstanding the fact they have to adhere to UEFA's new Financial Fair Play rules, means that they can build on these successes, attract the best managers and players and go on to dominate the English, if not the European game, for the forseeable future.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson always says that the hardest thing to do in soccer is to win a major trophy for the first time.
However, now that City have won their first title in 44 years, and Chelsea the Champions League, the ground rules appear to have changed.
Where does that leave United, and Arsenal, who dominated the game for a decade and are now increasingly having to play catch-up?
Where does that leave other big, historically successful clubs such as Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Newcastle United? Trailing in their wake.
Ferguson, whose United side were pipped to the Premier League title by City on goal difference, summed up most people's feelings last Sunday.
"We know City are going to spend fortunes, pay stupid money and silly salaries," he said. "We know that happens. We can't do anything about that.
"We are not like other clubs who can spend fortunes on proven goods. We invest in players who will be with the club for a long time, who will create the character of the club and the excitement for our fans.
"We are good at that and we are going to continue that way."
United's chief executive David Gill, speaking at the club's awards evening last week, said United had the finances to compete in the transfer market this year, as the club look to bounce back from narrowly missing out on a record 20th title.
"Funds are available without a doubt," said Gill. "We can still pay very well in terms of wages and transfer fees. Clearly City have raised the bar. We have seen that with what they are prepared to pay for players and to them.
"But we need to move on. Financial Fair Play is just around the corner. It is a flagship programme for Michel Platini (the UEFA president) and how that is implemented and the sanctions that are imposed are going to be interesting."
City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak has hinted that the club may not spend as much over the coming months as they have in recent close seasons.
"We have a championship-winning team," he said in an interview on City's official website.
"We are not starting from the same point as in other pre-seasons. We have had to improve in a very dramatic manner. Now we have a nucleus. To improve further we have to harness that nucleus."
However, Chelsea could well spend big, while Arsenal are hoping Robin van Persie will remain to form a potent link up front with their new arrival Lukas Podolski. The Gunners, traditionally cautious with their spending, may now need to be a little more cavalier.
Talk of breaking up Chelsea's slowly ageing side will be tempered by Saturday's success.
Match-winner Didier Drogba, 34, is expected to leave in the close season, but skipper John Terry, defender Ashley Cole and midfielder Frank Lampard, the solid backbone of the team, show little signs of creaking to a halt just yet.
If Chelsea appoint the right permanent manager, and most think interim Roberto Di Matteo fits the bill perfectly, and buy wisely, then both City and Chelsea could dominate in the same way United and Arsenal did not so long ago. - Reuters
[spoiler]Maria Mazza
[/spoiler]OTHER BOLLOX
Torres scored 11 goals in 48 appearances for Chelsea this season
Chelsea striker Fernando Torres demands crunch talks after suffering "the worst season of his career". The Metro
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce wants to bring former Hammer Joe Cole back to Upton Park after the club won promotion back to the Premier League. Cole has spent the last season on loan at Lille from Liverpool. Daily Mail
Blackpool's Matt Phillips could still be playing Premier League football next season despite missing out on promotion, after catching the eye of Reading boss Brian McDermott. The Sun
Tottenham duo Louis Saha and Steven Pienaar are labelled a "disgrace" by the club's fans after they congratulated Chelsea on their Champions League win. The Metro
Ajax boss Frank de Boer emerges as the number one target for Liverpool as they seek a replacement for Kenny Dalglish. The Sun
Salomon Kalou believes Chelsea would not have won the Champions League if Andre Villas-Boas had remained in charge at Stamford Bridge. talkShit
China's Now TV advertise this summer's European Championship using images of Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower & the Colosseum in flames. 101greatgoals.com
more bollox soon ....
