Aguero won title and saved my job, admits Mancini
Roberto Mancini has admitted he may have lost his job as Manchester City manager had Sergio Aguero failed to deliver the Premier League trophy to the Etihad Stadium with his injury-time winner against Queens Park Rangers last season.
City face QPR again at the Etihad tonight (Saturday) with memories of the dramatic end to last season fresh in the mind at the home of the champions.
And although Mancini's reward for winning the title was a new five-year contract this summer, the Italian admits he finds it difficult to contemplate what might have happened had City blown their chance of glory.
"Probably you would have been talking with another manager now," he said. "We didn't win the championship in the last second, though. We won the last championship during all the season.
"Football is beautiful because anything can happen in one game. I hope this year we can get the same result but don't concede one or two goals a game."
City were unable to land a routine draw in the group stage of the Champions League and Mancini's team face Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax in Group D.
In the opening fixture City will travel to Madrid to face Real, but despite previous friction between Mancini and Real manager Jose Mourinho, Mancini insists the game is bigger than a personality clash.
"This is not Mourinho-Mancini, it is Real Madrid-Manchester City," Mancini said.
"It is fantastic to play against three top teams, but we have four strong months until December when we finish the group and we need to have all the players ready every three days for this reason."
Manchester City complete £16m Javi Garcia transfer from Benfica
Manchester City have completed a £16m deal for Benfica's Spain international midfielder Javi Garcia.
City boss Roberto Mancini made 25-year-old Garcia a priority after Daniele de Rossi decided to stay at Roma and Nigel de Jong moved to AC Milan.
The former Real Madrid man won his only Spain cap earlier this year.
Manchester City, predictably, were big spenders as they parted with £38m to sign Benfica's Javi Garcia, Fiorentina defender Matija Nastasic, Maicon from Inter Milan and Swansea City winger Scott Sinclair.
Tottenham, as ever, were busy. The arrival of Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was no surprise but the signing of Fulham's Clint Dempsey certainly was.
Liverpool's failure to complete a deal after their offer was rejected by Fulham completed a fruitless deadline day which will undoubtedly disappoint manager Brendan Rodgers after he cleared Andy Carroll off the wage bill to West Ham and brought in £4m from the sale of Charlie Adam to Stoke City.
City have also signed Fiorentina defender Matija Nastasic, 19, in a deal worth £13m plus Stefan Savic moving in the opposite direction.
Garcia left Real Madrid for Osasuna in 2007, only for the Bernabeu club to exercise a buy-back clause a year later before he moved on to Benfica in 2009.
Nastasic, 19, has two caps for Serbia and made 22 starts for Fiorentina in Serie A last season after joining from Partizan Belgrade a year ago.
The new arrivals at the Etihad will join 31-year-old Brazilian defender Maicon, who has moved in a £3m deal from Inter Milan, while moves for Scott Sinclair and goalkeeper Richard Wright have also been confirmed as Mancini completes his transfer business.
City have already signed Everton's Jack Rodwell for £12m but decided against pursuing deals for Robin van Persie, who went to Manchester United for £24m, and Eden Hazard, bought by Chelsea for £32m.
Javi Martinez was another player of great interest to Mancini but he has moved to Bayern Munich from Athletic Bilbao in a £30m-plus transfer.
Striker Roque Santa Cruz and defender Dedryck Boyata have both left City on season-long loans.
Santa Cruz has joined Spanish side Malaga while Boyata has moved to Dutch outfit FC Twente.
Boyata, 21, spent last season on loan at Bolton and now joins up with former England manager Steve McClaren at the Dutch side.
City's Northern Ireland defender, Ryan McGivern, has joined Hibernian on loan until January.
The 22-year-old left-sided defender, who has 16 full caps, has made one appearance for City, as a substitute in a 5-0 league win over Sunderland in April 2011.
CHELSEA AND MANCHESTER CITY CONTINUE TO SPLASH THE CASH
If Chelsea and Manchester City are serious about UEFA’s financial fair play rules, they have a funny way of showing it.
Chelsea’s Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and City’s Abu Dhabi billionaire Sheikh Mansour have been flexing their mighty financial muscle once again to make sure that the clubs who swept up the major prizes last season emerged as the biggest spenders of the transfer window.
Chelsea’s summer outlay of £80 million was intended to top the £100m mark until they failed to beat the deadline by signing either Loic Remy from Marseille or Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen.
That amounts to the second highest summer spend by Abramovich since he announced his purchase of the club in 2003 by blowing £110m on Hernan Crespo, Juan Veron, Claude Makelele, Joe Cole and Glen Johnson, among others.
It not only signals that Abramovich has rekindled his enthusiasm for football following the Champions League-FA Cup Double in May but also represents real faith in Roberto Di Matteo, who was appointed manager only when Pep Guardiola declined the offer of taking over.
Richard Wright also joined on a free as back-up goalkeeper to Joe Hart and Costas Pantillimon
For their part, champions City, after a low-key summer by their standards, ended the window with a flourish – splashing £37m over its final 48 hours to take their close-season spending up to the £52m mark.
After months of complaining that his board were not doing or spending enough to bring in new players, boss Roberto Mancini finally admitted yesterday he was ‘happy’ with the business done.
But the fact remains that if Mancini had had his way, City would have spent much more, considering he failed to land any of his four top targets – striker Robin van Persie, who ended up across town at Old Trafford, Eden Hazard, who went to Chelsea, Javi Martinez, who opted for Bayern Munich, and midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who decided to stay home in Rome.
Mancini wanted six players and has got six – just not his first choices. But he clearly won a battle with the City hierarchy to land Maicon, who, at 31, does not fit the club’s age profile.
But having worked with the Brazilian right-back at Inter, Mancini was able to argue with some conviction that he would be a valuable asset, especially with Micah Richards ruled out by an ankle injury for some weeks.
The other arrivals are of the right age for City’s board, though.
Javi Garcia, a £16m defensive midfielder from Benfica, is 25, while central defender Matija Nastasic, a £12m buy from Fiorentina, is just 19. Winger Scott Sinclair, a £6.2m recruit from Swansea, is 23 and midfielder Jack Rodwell, who cost £15m from Everton, is only 21.
Richard Wright also joined on a free as back-up goalkeeper to Joe Hart and Costas Pantillimon.
As for balancing the books, City did much better than their London rivals – bringing in about £20m with Nigel de Jong joining Adam Johnson and Emmanuel Adebayor through the exit door.
But Chelsea’s main departees, Didier Drogba, Jose Bosingwa and Salomon Kalou, left on free transfers, while Michael Essien rejoined his one-time Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho with a season-long loan to Real Madrid.
Prize money from last season and commercial deals will help offset the spending of Chelsea and City but both Mancini and Di Matteo will argue that you have to speculate to accumulate.
Quite what UEFA will make of it when they introduce their new financial rules in 2014 remains to be seen.
Mancini yesterday actually praised the man he has been at odds with all summer, football administrator Brian Marwood, for his wheeling and dealing – even if his own first picks did not materialise.
The City manager said: “When you finish the season, you have a meeting with the club. You talk about some new players but sometimes maybe it is not possible to take all the players you want. You should have a different choice. But if I get these players, I am happy. I was frustrated as it is difficult to do everything in one week or 10 days. Only this reason. Now I think they have worked very well in the last two weeks.
“The problem for Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain is that clubs ask for too much money for their players.
“But if we sign all these players, we’ll improve our team. Some of them will come to play in a different championship and will maybe need time. Maicon is a top player and has experience; Nastasic is young but will develop into a top defender. Sinclair plays in the same position as Adam Johnson but the difference is that Adam works with the ball and Sinclair runs into space. There are some differences but they are both wingers. I hope Sinclair can do like Adam or better. “We need a goalkeeper with experience and Richard Wright is good for us.”
After taking his spending to almost £300m in less than three seasons as manager, some might say that Mancini should be a very contented man – as should Di Matteo. Now both need to back up the investment. EXPRESS
Richard Wright is no robot-lizard disguised as a country estate agent
Manchester City's new keeper, remembered for some calamitous strokes of ill fortune, may seem like a weird signing but perhaps his time has come
Jack Rodwell's move to Manchester City has helped in the annual rejig required by league rules on homegrown players. Photo: Football, which has always been weird, seemed to get just a little bit weirder in the dog days of the Premier League transfer window. Perhaps the strangest moment of a slightly fretful summer arrived this week with the news that Manchester City, the richest club in the world, had signed 1990s goalkeeping curiosity Richard Wright.
This is a move that seems not so much surprising as unsettling, the kind of transfer that might happen in a slightly confusing dream. In the case of Wright to City it is as though some kind of basic category mistake has been made, like catching a glimpse of a dog wearing a hat, or hearing someone describe in great detail what the colour red smells like, a mid-range Premier League goalkeeping version of that moment in the 1980s when the aged Let's Dance-era David Bowie reappeared suddenly at the top of the charts pretending to be a regular guy who wears chinos and sings pop songs, but resembling to the child weaned on Wham! and Duran Duran a frightening alien robot-lizard disguised as a country estate agent.
This is not to denigrate the very talented Wright, who seemed for a long time all set to leap into the bovine void left by the delayed retirement of David Seaman at Arsenal. If he now seems less an actual goalkeeper and more a kind of Shed Seven-listening, Tony Blair-high‑fiving, Millennium Bug-solving nostalgia item, this is no doubt related to the fact that after a productive start to his career he has averaged little more than 10 games a season over the past decade, most recently leaving Preston North End after five days at the club due to "homesickness".
Plus he seems unshakeably associated with a very specific era in English goalkeeping, a generation of itchy, jumpy, pink-faced young men maddened to the point of distraction by the evolution of the keeper's role from shamefaced Gollum of last resort into a kind of spangle-shirted quarterback, the goalkeeper-athlete with his "distribution", his goal somersaults, his bargingly self-important sprints downfield.
Goalkeepers of his era often seemed prone to calamitous strokes of ill fortune. Wright is remembered for the injury he sustained while warming up in a goalmouth after falling over a sign warning him of the dangers of warming up in the goalmouth. On his England debut he gave away two penalties, the first of which crossed the line after bouncing in off the back of his head. He also suffered a serious injury after falling out of his loft hatch at home, something I remember with a sense of distant kinship because I have also fallen out of my loft hatch and it is an unnerving experience, creating in that moment of freefall through the hatch a sense of having been betrayed on some basic level by the floor. Perhaps Wright, as he fell, also grabbed uselessly at a piece of yellow foam ceiling insulation, shredding it into horrible feathery strips and creating a mist of falling grit and fibres that stung his eyes and tickled his throat as he lay splayed on the carpet thinking: "This exact same thing happened to that goalkeeper. Richard Wright."
Wright is not the only unexpected new arrival this summer. Jack Rodwell is already providing a mini-Yaya presence in the revolving arm-wrestle of City's midfield. Rodwell remains a slightly confusing player, an almost-prodigy of wonderful semi-talent who looks fantastic and runs around nicely but doesn't seem to actually do anything you can put your finger on, performing most noticeably in the thrusting midfield run-hulk role or more defensively as a non-specific central trot-about, all the while harbouring ambitions of performing as a high spec central mooch-about. Scott Sinclair has also arrived from Swansea to provide occasional midweek jink-relief, and beyond that to reinforce the sense of City's money being spent rather frugally this summer, like the kind of cobwebbed ancestral millionaire who emerges every fortnight in yellowing tweeds and spends £4,000 on cat food and candles.
Of course all three have something else in common. They are English-reared, thereby assisting in the annual rejig required by Premier League rules on "homegrown" players. Before Wright City had seven in their likely first-team squad, one short of the required eight. From this perspective Wright's one-year contract is a deeply canny deadline-week investment, defusing at a stroke the need to panic-negotiate any last-minute bids for English players and perhaps, who knows, shaving a little off the Sinclair deal.
Some have suggested City's low key signings are an indication of a fatal stodginess in the relationship between Brian Marwood and Roberto Mancini. By now they were supposed to have towed an iceberg into dock, cloned William Shakespeare, lassoed the sun, announced the immediate capture of the vast parmesan cheese deposits of Mars. Instead they have tinkered with the base-notes, adding depth and a little regulatory compliance. There is also, no doubt inadvertently, some tactical sense in this. In a market borne aloft on twice-yearly carbon dollar injections City have shied away from domestic bidding wars, trading at a net gain right up to the final day of the window, at which point spending was down 20% on the last three seasons. Intentionally or not, a form of tourniquet has been applied, with a summer of thriftiness – on the basis that the only thing that can compete with City's money is City's money – depriving the rest of the Premier League of that surging liquidity. Manchester United have bought well and Chelsea have their own resources but if City don't go shopping nobody's going shopping much these days.
For now they have two fine young English players and the summer-oddity Wright, who may yet end up experiencing a dramatic late-career renaissance. But who at the very least perhaps deserves his own entry in the transfer lexicon as the Memorabilia Signing: a bargaining tool, a regulatory shemozzle, and another peculiar entry in the Premier League's own grand shark-eyed fiscal odyssey.
Schmeichel begs for Rag forgiveness
I'd never have gone to Man City the way they are now, says United legend Schmeichel
Peter Schmeichel has claimed he would never have signed for Manchester City if they had been in direct competition with Manchester United for the league title.
After spending eight successful years at Old Trafford, when he became one of the club's greatest goalkeepers and, in the absence of Roy Keane, skippered them to their historic 1999 Champions League final triumph, Schmeichel stunned many fans when he joined City just three years later.
Although the Dane lasted just a season with the Blues, making 29 appearances, for some United fans it amounted to a betrayal.
Now the 48-year-old is back in the Red Devils fold as a club ambassador.
And, speaking ahead of a Manchester United Foundation dinner in London next month where he will appear with Denis Law at a Q&A session, Schmeichel explained his reasoning behind his move.
'I would never have played for Manchester City had they been what they are today.' he said.
'The club now is nothing like the one I was at. Maybe the kit man is still there but that is about it.
'They had just been promoted from the Championship when I joined them.
'It was very neutral in the way they competed with Manchester United.
'Even when I went to Aston Villa it was very important that I was not in competition with Manchester United.'
City fans are hardly likely to care as they continue to bask in the glory of their club's heart-stopping title triumph.
However, with continuing talk of disunity between manager Roberto Mancini and sporting director Brian Marwood and the rush to sign new recruits ahead of tomorrow's transfer deadline, it does not seem everything at City is rosy at the start of a season Schmeichel believes will be exceptionally testing for them.
'Change is good. Quick change can be very dangerous,' he said.
'Sometimes you can get ahead of yourself when you change and this season is a big test for them.
'Now everybody wants to beat them. They are not just Manchester City, the richest club in the world.
'Now they are the champions. And any side getting points against the champions will feel they have done really well.
'This is what Manchester United have been dealing with for years.
'I am not saying Manchester City won't do well but they cannot prepare for what is to come.'
In fairness to Sheikh Mansour, other than the botched handling of Mark Hughes' departure, the City owner has generated far more goodwill than bad during his time in charge.
The same cannot be said of United's owners, who continue to attract huge amounts of criticism for the way they run the Old Trafford outfit, even though they have splashed out on Robin van Persie this summer.
With the transfer deadline looming, it does not look as though Sir Alex Ferguson's midfield resources will be bolstered though, meaning a reliance on Anderson, Tom Cleverley and new-boy Nick Powell.
Yet Schmeichel feels this summer's strategy fits with the overall United philosophy.
And he does not believe that should ever change.
'It is important that Manchester United keeps its identity,' he said.
'Their heritage is to produce and develop players, something that started with Sir Matt and continued with Sir Alex Ferguson.
'That should never change. There have been times when it was difficult. When Chelsea got all their money, they got the players United wanted. To a certain degree we have had that with Manchester City as well.
'But big players who want to win trophies and have a profile will always look at this football club.
'The Premier League has been going for 20 years. United have won 12 titles and never finished lower than third.
'That has been done by bringing in players from local areas and spicing it up by paying what it takes to get established stars like Robin van Persie.
'The day that changes and people think United can just go and buy a football team, it will lose its identity.'
The B*l**x tried to get an interview with PS to confirm these claims but he had to rush off to nosh SlurAlex .... apperently ..
Manchester City fail in bid for Al Ain's Abdulrahman
Manchester City failed in a bid to sign UAE star Omar Abdulrahman last week after UAE star turned down a move to pledge his future to Al Ain, Sport360° can reveal.
City were keen to take the 20-year-old to the Etihad Stadium on a permanent basis after he impressed during a two-week trial with the club following his standout performances at the Olympics.
Abdulrahman did enough in his brief time at the club to convince boss Roberto Mancini he could cut it in the Premier League with the champions tabling an undisclosed bid last Friday.
City had intended on allowing Abdulrahman to continue his footballing education on loan, with France mooted as a possible destination, to allow the diminutive playmaker to acclimatise to European football.
However, a spokesman for Al Ain has revealed Abdulrahman opted against a move to England to remain at Al Ain “for at least another season”.
The decision, according to the club insider, stems from Abdulrahman’s desire to repay the faith shown in him by the club’s management who invested a lot of time and effort to bring the Riyadh-born midfielder and his family to the UAE.
Abdulrahman arrived in the Emirates in his early teens with Al Ain helping to sort out visas for the player and family members.
“Omar still believes he has unfinished business with Al Ain,” said the spokesman. City made an offer seven days ago (last Friday) to sign the player on a permanent basis."
“But Omar feels he owes a great debt of gratitude to Al Ain for the belief shown in him from such an early age.
"He wants to help the club retain their league title and do well in the AFC Champions League and repay the management and fans for their faith shown in him.”
News of Abdulrahman’s commitment to the club’s cause is a huge boost for Al Ain after they missed out on the signing of Arsenal striker Park Chu-young earlier on Friday.
The Boss had agreed terms over a season-long loan deal for the South Korean, with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger particularly keen for the 27-year-old to link up with the UAE champions.
However, Park rejected Al Ain’s advances as he done 12 montths ago to join the Gunners and has instead opted to test himself in Spain with Celta Vigo.
“We had agreed terms with Arsenal, but Park didn’t want to move to the UAE as he saw it as a step backwards,” said the Al Ain spokesman.
“We have a number of names in mind to fill our Asian spot and will now explore those in the coming days.”
One man who has joined the club is former France Under-21 striker Jires Kembo Ekoko, who joins from Ligue 1 side Rennes.
Details of the deal remain unclear but the Congo-born 24-year-old has joined his new team-mates at their pre-season training camp in Spain. http://www.sport360.com/article/manches ... bdulrahman
TRANSFER SNUB COUNT SLAMS SHUT: 542
OTHER BOLLOX
Sunderland and Stoke are competing to sign striker Michael Owen on a free transfer. The 32-year-old is available as a free agent and can sign for a new club outside the transfer window after he was released by Manchester United.
Stoke considered selling Glenn Whelan to Wolves to fund their move for midfielder Charlie Adam, 26. Stoke Sentinel
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, 39, is "shocked" by his club's inability to land a new striker in the summer transfer window. The Anfield outfit made a "derisory" bid to Fulham for forward Clint Dempsey, 29, and were rejected by Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge after the 22-year-old refused to move on loan. Daily Mirror
Fulham claim Liverpool offered just £3m for Dempsey before the United States international was sold to Tottenham. Guardian
Blackburn turned down a loan offer from West Brom for left-back Martin Olsson, 24, before the Baggies turned to Dynamo Kiev defender Goran Popov. Birmingham Mail
[strike]Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has revealed he was wanted by Manchester United to replace Roy Keane but it would have been "impossible" for him to make the move due to the rivalry between the clubs. Daily Mail[/strike]
Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner had to use his own private jet to ensure Genk striker Christian Benteke, 21, arrived in the Midlands in time to complete his move before the transfer deadline expired. the Sun
The Premier League will consider having five referees at matches if evidence from UEFA's tests can prove the system raises the standard of officiating.
Julio Cesar has made 64 appearances for Brazil and played 228 times for Inter Milan in Serie A. London Evening Standard
QPR manager Mark Hughes says he will not stop goalkeeper Robert Green from leaving the club in January after the arrival of Inter Milan's Julio Cesar, 32, ended the summer signing's short stint as number one at the club. Daily Star
Leeds manager Neil Warnock admits he is "a little bit envious" of the cash spent by Championship rivals Cardiff and Blackburn this summer. The Independent
Liverpool midfielder Nuri Sahin, 23, has revealed he was in the crowd in Istanbul in 2005 when his new club fought back from 3-0 down at half-time to win the Champions League. Sun
Lazio plan to invite Paul Gascoigne to Rome to watch the Europa League game with Tottenham. The 45-year-old played in midfield for both clubs during his playing career. Daily Express
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