Former Inter Milan manager ready to put pen to paper on a deal worth £5 million a year which will tie him to the Premier League champions until 2015
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is expected to put pen to paper on a new contract worth £5 million a year after returning from talks with the club’s owners in Abu Dhabi.
The City manager agreed an extension to his current deal - which expires in June 2013 - during face-to-face talks with owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak following the club’s Premier League triumph.
Both parties are believed to be happy with the agreement and all that remains is to sort out the minor details, which could be completed before Mancini heads to Sardinia for a family holiday on Friday.
Goal.com revealed earlier this month that City were planning to offer the Italian a three-year contract worth £15m, a considerable upgrade on his current deal worth £3.5m-a-year before bonuses.
In March, Goal.com reported that Mancini told City chiefs before Christmas he was willing to open talks over an extension to his contract but the Italian was instructed that negotiations would not begin until the summer.
After taking a calculated gamble by delaying talks with Mancini to protect themselves from having to pay a huge compensation fee were he to be dismissed, Sheikh Mansour and Al Mubarak decided to back the 47-year-old following the team’s dramatic title victory.
Mancini was in Abu Dhabi along with first-team coach David Platt, director of football administration Brian Marwood and acting chief executive John MacBeath.
It is believed that talks were also held over City’s targets for the summer transfer window, headed by Lille attacker Eden Hazard, Arsenal striker Robin van Persie and Milan defender Thiago Silva.
It's time Toure told this agent where to go... not the other way round By Martin Samuel
The pop of the last champagne cork had barely finished echoing around the Manchester City dressing room when Dimitri Seluk, agent for the mighty Yaya Toure, took to the airwaves in Spain.
'Toure has done all he can at City and needs new motivations,' he gabbled. 'He would not cost much and would like a new challenge. He could sign for many big clubs, like Chelsea or Bayern Munich. We would like to see Barcelona join the race.'
Actually, if you want to play for Barcelona there are more obvious ways of doing so: like not allowing your agent to spend your last year there agitating for a transfer; but then Seluk would not have received his substantial cut of Toure’s move to City.
Why go anywhere? Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure is a Premier League title winner
Do you ever wonder whose side agents are actually on? Not that of their clients, necessarily.
If Toure yearns for Barcelona, his last career choice hardly makes sense, but then neither does this one, if he is seriously contemplating leaving a club who have won the Premier League title, and may be embarking on a period of wider domination.
So who is in charge here: Seluk or Toure? And if the adviser is such a bright guy, why is he throwing a name like Bayern Munich into the mix, the club having come second in every tournament they have contested this season.
It is almost as if he looked at a fixture list, thought 'Who is in the Champions League final and might have a few quid?' and pulled two potential suitors from thin air. As for Chelsea, why would any agent pack a client off to a club that doesn’t have a manager? What sort of advice service is this?
A child of five could see through Seluk’s ploy.
No player in his right mind would wish to quit City right now, certainly not one in favour with manager Roberto Mancini. Yet Toure is only of worth to Seluk when in transit. The sweetener an agent receives for keeping a player loyal does not compare to the giant lump sum from a transfer. Toure is worth considerably more to Seluk unsettled than he is happy.
City, meanwhile, are nonplussed by Seluk's outburst. Toure earns in the region of £260,000 a week, has three years left on his contract and was last heard insisting that his ambition was to help the club win the Champions League. Suddenly, he was demotivated and in need of a new challenge.
That’s some post-party comedown.
Maybe it is Toure who needs to tell his agent where to go.
Manchester City's Santa Cruz hoping to remain at Real Betis
The Paraguayan striker enjoyed his first season in Spain and is planning on staying at the Benito Villamarin next season, but he is keeping patient regarding a transfer
The Paraguay international joined newly-promoted Betis on a temporary deal last summer after finding himself behind the likes of Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko.
With John Guidetti also expected to feature in the first-team next season, following an impressive loan spell at Feyenoord, Cruz is hoping to remain at the Benito Villamarin beyond the end of the current campaign.
Speaking at a club sponsorship event, the 30-year-old said: “I'm fine here and I want to stay and there will be talks, hopefully in the coming weeks, with my agent.
“It is important to see them [City] face negotiations with a smile on their face. The club has made a major investment in me and is entitled to see something in exchange.
“They do not want to give away players, many players are in a situation like mine.
“But Betis have my word that I will do everything possible to stay, although it depends on City."
The former Bayern Munich man made 33 appearances in La Liga for Betis this season, netting seven goals as they secured a 13th-place finish after two seasons in the Spanish Segunda Division.
Manchester City fans to face champion size rise for season tickets
Cost of some Etihad season tickets to jump by £60
Manchester City have increased season-ticket prices by an average 9% for next season. The hike, which follows a 6% rise 12 months ago, means that some City supporters will have to pay £60 more to renew their seat at the Etihad Stadium to watch the Premier League champions defend their title in 2012-13.
Although City are not alone in increasing the cost of season tickets, research by the Guardian shows that only three other established Premier League clubs have raised their prices across the stadium, with Fulham the next highest at 5%. Tottenham Hotspur fans will pay an average of 3.6% more next season while Everton supporters face an increase of 3%.
City say that the increases have been staggered in a way that those in the cheaper seats will not face the same rises as those at the top end. A standard adult season ticket in level one of the family stand under their gold membership scheme now starts at £425, rising to a maximum of £745, for platinum members, in level two of the Colin Bell Stand.
Adults will pay 5-10% more for a season ticket in 2012-13, over-65s will have to pay an average of 2% more, under‑21s face a 4-10% rise and under-16s need to find about £1 more per game. The club also offer an undisclosed and limited number of "value gold" seats. These cost £275 and are the second-cheapest seats in the Premier League, although the club chooses where the season-ticket holder sits rather than the other way round.
Although City's prices remain competitive in relation to their rivals, the fact that season tickets have gone up by 15% in the last two years suggests that there are some limits to Sheikh Mansour's generosity after all. The City owner has invested more than £1bn since taking control of the club and, in all likelihood, few supporters will be complaining at the prospect of paying more to watch a team who won the title for the first time in 44 years.
Across the rest of the Premier League, many fans will see little change in the cost of their season tickets. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Stoke City, Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers have all frozen prices. Norwich City and Swansea City fans will have to pay at least 10% more to watch Premier League football for a second successive season, although their 2011-12 prices were set when they were Championship clubs.
West Ham United season-ticket holders will pay the same as they did when the club was last in the Premier League, in 2010-11, while some Reading supporters, because of a similar situation to what Norwich and Swansea were in before, will watch Premier League football at Championship prices. Wigan have increased prices for adults by 2% on average but significantly reduced the cost for youngsters. West Bromwich Albion have made the most notable change, dropping adult prices by £50 and making cuts of up to £70 in their youth categories.
A City spokesperson said: "Our pricing structure has been reviewed this summer and we are confident that Manchester City membership for 2012-13 represents superb value for money. Last season we provided the best product for supporters on and off the pitch. We won the Premier League by winning 18 out of 19 home games and were voted the No1 club for supporter experience in a survey conducted by Visit Britain for the Premier League.
"We achieved all this while having on offer some of the most competitive ticket prices in the Premier League. For 2012-13 we have adult season tickets from £275 on offer, which equates to less than £14.50 per game to watch the champions, one of the best value packages in the top four tiers of the league.
"This year we have introduced a new 'City Kicks' junior membership scheme for youngsters and have season tickets available for under- 16s from £110. We are also providing season-ticket holders with the opportunity to sell unwanted seats via our 'Ticket Exchange' scheme, giving extra value to our supporters." Guardian
Mancini dismisses Balotelli, Tevez
Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini has dismissed rumours he is in talks with AC Milan over strikers Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez.
Mancini met with Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani at the Italian club's headquarters on Monday, but the former Inter Milan coach said it was simply a courtesy visit.
In an interview with Italian news agency ANSA on Tuesday, Mancini said Galliani had asked to see him and added: "It lasted 10 minutes and I certainly didn't make an offer for Thiago Silva. Even less did I offer Balotelli or Tevez to Milan."
Milan has long been linked with Tevez and a deal for the Argentine fell through in the winter transfer market during the controversial striker's long-running feud with City.
Balotelli played for Inter Milan for three years
How Montpellier beat PSG to win the French title
Worth reading for the 31 word opening dig at us alone!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18156868
Happy Hazard: The race to sign a potential global superstar
France's Player of the Year is set to join a Premier League club this summer – but is enjoying taking his time choosing which one
Nothing had been riding on Lille's final game of the season on Sunday against Nancy, with Champions League qualification already sealed but a chance of retaining the Ligue 1 title out of reach. Still, journalists squeezed into the modest press conference room at their (soon-to-be-former) home, Stade Villeneuve d'Ascq, to hear the definitive final word, with Eden Hazard expected to finally detail which Premier League club he would be joining.
"I haven't made my choice yet," he shrugged. It wasn't just a moment of anti-climax for those waiting on tenterhooks, but a rare sign of wavering from this most self-confident of young men. While Hazard has teased possible suitors – and the public – in recent months, he has always exuded a strong sense of assurance.
His curtain call against Nancy, the same side he made his professional debut against in November 2007 at the age of 16, showed exactly why England's finest are jockeying for position in the race to sign him. Hazard fired a first-half hat-trick, taking him up to 20 league goals for the season, one short of the French top division's top scorers, Montpellier's Olivier Giroud and Nenê of Paris Saint-Germain. The Lille No 10 was alone at the summit of the assist table, with 15.
This season Hazard has demonstrated what all the fuss is about and his projected €40m (£32.3m) move would make him the most lucrative ever player sale from Ligue 1, topping the £26.2m Chelsea paid for Michael Essien in 2005. Ten days ago, his peers voted him Player of the Year for the second successive season, following on from his Young Player of the Year titles in 2009 and 2010.
Hazard's rise is down to a number of factors: the confidence gleaned from Lille's league and cup Double last year; the move from wide left to a more central position in the second half of the campaign, and even the boost of a kindred spirit arriving in the on-loan Joe Cole, with whom the Belgian enjoys considerable creative synergy.
It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that Cole's experience and class has made the idea of thriving in England a more attractive prospect to Hazard. The admiration is certainly mutual. "I don't want to keep putting pressure on him," Cole told me just before Christmas. "But he seems like the sort of character who can deal with it all. He's just a fantastic talent. He can go on and become one of the best players in the world."
At just 21, Hazard has manipulated the prospect of his impending transfer like a seasoned pro. During the first four months of 2012, he's given all the Premier League's leading lights encouragement. As a special guest on the panel of the television programme Canal Football Club at the end of January, he gave a clear and controlled performance under some typically direct questioning from host Hervé Mathoux.
Just before the closure of the winter transfer window, Hazard firmly declared it was absolutely impossible that he would leave before summer, but that he had taken the decision to go to England at the end of the campaign. Neglecting to name a preferred club, he praised the qualities of all the Premier League's leading lights in turn.
"I bet it's Chelsea," Canal Plus's leading pundit, Christophe Dugarry, suggested towards the end of the segment. "Well, you're free to bet as you want," Hazard smirked back, before unwittingly stoking further rumours of a move to Stamford Bridge among English fans by tweeting: "What did you think about me on CFC?" (using the acronym to describe the show, not the English club) on the way home from the studio.
Such poise may be a surprising quality in a relative stripling, but Hazard is the product of his environment. He is the oldest of four brothers. Thorgan, 19, is attracting interest from Italy and Portugal after just six starts for Lille's second-tier neighbours, Lens. Kylian joined his big brother at Lille last summer, signing up for the academy when he turned 16. Seven-year-old Ethan has just started on the same path. Like Eden, he has joined the youth ranks at AFC Tubize, a second-tier club based 15 minutes' drive from the Hazard family home in the small Belgian town of Braine-le-Comte, 30 miles from the French border.
The boys are of good footballing stock; father Thierry was a semi-professional in the Belgian Second Division, while mother Carine was an accomplished centre-forward in Belgium's top flight before quitting at 26, when she became pregnant with her eldest son. "Eden was scoring goals before he was born thanks to me," she told Le Parisien last year.
The next generation has already begun to emerge, with Hazard becoming a father to a baby boy in December 2010. Yet if he is lauded for his maturity in France, the Belgium national side has yet to see him at his best. Hazard's international career has been a slow burner, and he has scored just once in 26 matches for his country.
A testy relationship with then-coach Georges Leekens came to a head last summer, when Hazard was substituted after an hour of the Euro 2012 qualifier against Turkey in Brussels. A photographer later snapped Hazard eating a hamburger with his father outside the Stade Roi Baudouin while the game was still going on. He apologised, but Leekens suspended him for three games in August, before relenting later in the month.
Even though he identifies himself as an Anderlecht fan, there is a sense that there is a certain disconnect between Hazard and his home nation: much as with Lionel Messi, it seems an inevitable consequence of the vast majority of his football education unfolding abroad. After being spotted by Lille scouts at Tubize, he moved to France at 14 to join the academy. Leekens' replacement, Marc Wilmots, once suggested French observers are "blinded by Eden's moments of magic."
Hazard's talent has certainly infuriated opponents in the past. "Even though they were already winning 3-0," Nancy defender André Luiz complained after a game last January, "he [Hazard] was taking the piss out of us with the ball, waiting for an opponent after having dribbled past him so he could dribble past him again. Even his team-mates thought it was over the top."
Any perceived annoyance at Hazard's star status within Lille's corridors appears vastly exaggerated. When coach Rudi Garcia substituted Hazard a few minutes from the end of Sunday's match to allow him a prolonged ovation, each one of his team-mates ran across to individually embrace him.
It wasn't just an indication of how honoured the Lille squad feels to have watched Hazard grow, but also of how much they appreciate his work ethic. He is no shallow egotist. "Is this my best season?" he pondered last week. "Stats-wise, yes. But last season, there was the Double, and this, nothing." His voice trailed away, losing interest. Hazard wants to shine individually, and be well paid while doing it, but he also wants to win things – which is exactly why Chelsea are back in the running following their Champions League triumph. Independent
Born 7 January 1991, La Louvière, Belgium
Club career
2007- Lille (192 games, 50 goals)
International career
26 caps for Belgium, one goal.
Debut v Luxembourg, Nov 2008
Honours
Ligue 1 2010-11, French Cup 2010-11
Individual honours
Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2008-09, 2009-10
Ligue 1 Player of the Year: 2010-11, 2011-12
MCF.net THREAD: http://www.mancityfans.net/mcfnet/viewt ... &start=300
[spoiler]Giselle Santa Cruz, married to Roque Santa Cruz. Seen here with a golden ball and italian themed bikini, the wife of the on loan Man City forward. Giselle was fined last year after admitted driving without due care and attention when crashing her luxury 4x4 into another car
[/spoiler]OTHER BOLLOX
Newcastle are close to their first signing of the summer with Stade de Reims midfielder Romain Amalfitano, 22, arriving on Tyneside to put the finishing touches on a three-year deal. Independent
Arsenal have switched their attention to Toulouse captain Etienne Capoue, 23, as a cheaper alternative to Rennes' 21-year-old Yann M'Vila as the club step up their efforts to sign a holding midfielder for next season. the Times
Manchester United have opened talks with Everton over a £12m move for full-back Leighton Baines. Daily Mirror
And United are hoping to take advantage of Rayo Vallecano's financial problems after targeting Michu, 26, the highest-scoring midfielder in Spain last season, who could move to the Premier League for as little as £3m this summer. Daily Mail
Meanwhile, United risk being priced out of the race for Borussia Dortmund and Poland striker Robert Lewdowski, with the 23-year-old's value likely to rocket beyond his current valuation of £18m if he enjoys a successful Euro 2012. Daily Express
One player who could be one his way out of Old Trafford is Anderson with Manchester United open to offers for the injury-plagued 24-year-old midfielder. the Times
Arsenal will offload seven stars, including Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson, Sebastien Squillaci and Johan Djourou, to free up cash to bid for Blackburn's 21-year-old winger Junior Hoilett. Daily Mirror
Borussia Dortmund have asked about the availability of Nicklas Bendtner after the 24-year-old striker completed his loan spell at Sunderland.Daily Mail
England striker Jermain Defoe admits he is heading into Euro 2012 considering his future at Tottenham. talkSHIT
Marseille striker Loic Remy, 25, has said that he still wants a move to Tottenham despite the club's failure to qualify for the Champions League next season, but he wants Harry Redknapp to remain in charge at White Hart Lane if he is to sign.Daily Mirror
Dynamo Kiev have opened talks over a double move for Tottenham's Niko Kranjcar and Vedran Corluka, which could be worth up to £10m. Daily Mail
Wolves winger Matt Jarvis, 25, is a shock £5m target for Udinese. Daily Mirror
Stoke striker Cameron Jerome has snubbed an offer from Wolves to step down to the Championship and help their promotion battle. Daily Mail
Louis van Gaal has emerged as a leading contender to be Liverpool's sporting director. The Dutchman has made his interest in the role known, having been out of work since being dismissed as coach of Bayern Munich in April last year.Times
Van Gaal would be expected to work with the new team manager when Liverpool appoint a replacement for Kenny Dalglish. Guardian
Roy Keane has questioned whether new England coach and former Old Trafford team-mate Gary Neville has the right credentials for the job. Daily Mirror
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has questioned England boss Roy Hodgson's decision to leave his former Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand out of his squad for Euro 2012. "Rio is still the best centre-back in England and still one of the best in the world," he said. the Sun
Hodgson is facing a battle with former club Fulham over the future of academy director Ray Lewington. The Cottagers are demanding compensation in excess of £1m if Lewington is to join the England set-up on a permanent basis after Euro 2012. the Sun
West Ham co-chairman David Gold has played down hopes Joe Cole could make a "romantic" return to Upton Park this summer. Daily Mail
Rangers defender Chris Hegarty has said that he will forego his wages this summer if it means tying down a permanent deal at Ibrox. The financially stricken Glasgow club may not be able to extend the 19-year-old's contract as they are currently in administration. Daily Record
England manger Roy Hodgson may have as few as 13 outfield players to work with in his first training session ahead of Euro 2012, with Chelsea's Champions League winners given an extra week off and injury concerns over the likes of Scott Parker and Danny Welbeck. Times
Chelsea's Champions League triumph was foretold by former manager Andre Villas-Boas in his final days in charge at Stamford Bridge - despite the Blues trailing Napoli 3-1 after the first leg of their last-16 tie at the time. Daily Express
Some Bayern Munich fans believe that their team's chances of lifting the European Cup were ruined by Ukrainian defender Anatoliy Tymoschuk touching the trophy on his way out of the dressing room at the Allianz Arena. 101 Great Goals
