I want to make history! Yaya Toure pledges to stay at City for rest of his career
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has given Roberto Mancini a huge boost by revealing he wants to stay at the club for the rest of his career.
City boss Mancini will speak to the media on Monday morning under a little pressure ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League game at home to Ajax.
But Toure has dismissed suggestions of rifts in the City dressing room and revealed he would like to sign a new contract at the Barclays Premier League champions.
Toure told French football paper L’Equipe: 'I want to make history with this club, I want to end my career here.
'I'm pretty sure and I hope that when I'm an old man, sat around, they will still talk about me here.
'Of course there are rows at big club, with all the people with different egos, including mine.
'But we will be okay. I am still confident.'
And Mancini welcomed Toure's declaration.
When asked if that could mean a new contract for the midfielder, Mancini said: 'I think so because Yaya for us is a very important player and for me, personally, he is one of the best players in Europe.
'In my life, I saw a lot of big players and I think Yaya is part of this.'
Mancini accepts Toure has not been at his dynamic best in recent weeks, with the powerful runs that became his trademark during last season's Barclays Premier League title-winning campaign having been less frequent.
But injuries to other players have meant Toure having to compensate and Mancini has no concerns over his form.
Mancini said: 'Probably because we had many injuries, many important players like David Silva. If we play David, Samir (Nasri) - Yaya will play better, this is sure. But also when Yaya is not 100 per cent he is important for us.'
City are bottom of their Champions League group after defeats to Ajax and Real Madrid and a home draw with Borussia Dortmund.
Mancini’s team need to win at the Etihad Stadium if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages.
City were held to a goalless draw at West Ham on Saturday as their city rivals United went top of the Premier League.
Asked about Toure’s admission that there are egos in City dressing room, Mancini said on Monday that it shouldn’t be a barrier to winning football.
Mancini said: 'I don’t have any problem with egos.
'I have played and worked with many players like this.
'They are top players and this is what it is like. It was the same when I was a player.
'It is normal in a squad where you have 40 or 50 players of this level.
'Yaya is a very important player for us. He is one of the best in Europe. I have seen a lot of big players in my life.
'Yaya is up there with all of them.' DSSC
Manchester City Lynchpin Pays Homage To Barcelona Education
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has paid tribute to Barcelona and his former manager Frank Rijkaard, admitting he would not be the player he is today if it wasn’t for the three years he spent at Barcelona.
The Ivorian, whose stunning year has earned him a place on the 23-man Ballon d’Or shortlist, joined the Catalan giants from Monaco in 2007 for a paltry £6.7 million, going on to enjoying three trophy-laden years before being lured to Manchester City.
Playing alongside the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta in a fearsome midfield, Toure was part of the wonderful Barca side that won the La Liga and Champions League double in 2009, and the tough-tackling midfielder is grateful for the experience that has helped shape him into one of Europe’s finest midfielders.
"When I left Monaco for Barça I developed an awful lot in three years", the 29-year-old said, Spanish publication Marca report. "Without Barça, I wouldn't be the player I am today".
Dutch manager Frank Rijkaard originally brought the Ivorian to the Nou Camp in 2007, and Toure has not forgotten the help his old manager gave him upon his arrival in Spain. “For three and a half months, while the rest of the players were playing internationals, he made me work on tactics because I was a little sloppy. He showed me videos and gave me tactical training to improve," Toure added.
BALOTELLI'S BABY BUST-UP
MARIO BALOTELLI has risked another bust-up with Roberto Mancini after deciding to miss the hectic Christmas programme to be with his new-born child.
Balotelli’s girlfriend Raffaella Fico is due to give birth on Christmas Day in Italy and the Manchester City striker will return home for two weeks. The controversial striker is keen to spend as much time as possible with his catwalk model partner and baby – even if it means him
missing the busiest time of the Premier League season. Mancini was hoping the Italian hitman would not be gone for too long as the Blues face a run of four crucial league games in just 10 days between December 22 and New Year’s Day.
It means Balotelli could miss games with Reading, Sunderland, Norwich and Stoke as the champions look to keep pace with title rivals Manchester United and Chelsea at the top.
To make matters worse Balotelli could even miss crunch clashes with Newcastle and neighbours United if the child is born sooner than expected and he has to return home earlier.
Players missing matches for the birth of their children is nothing new, with Tottenham’s Gareth Bale pulling out of the recent clash with Chelsea for the same reason.
But rarely do players take the full two weeks’ paternity leave available and Balotelli’s decision to miss a fortnight will do little to help his fragile relationship with Mancini.
The Blues insist Balotelli is entitled to take whatever ‘leave’ he is entitled to but a club source said: “We are already resigned to the fact Mario will almost certainly be absent for Reading at home and trips to Sunderland and Norwich.”
or ... No truth in Balotelli break reports
Manchester City have denied reports that Mario Balotelli has requested paternity leave which would see him miss the busy Christmas period.
Balotelli is due to become a father for the first time in December and with the birth looming it was reported that he had requested two weeks off.
Indeed, it is claimed that Balotelli has sought to take the festive period off, which would see him miss four games for the Premier League champions.
However, City insist this is not the case and after checking with several departments within the club, a spokesman for the Blues has confirmed that no such request has been made and stressed there is ‘no basis’ to the reports.
“No request relating to paternity leave has been made by the player/his representative or received by the club,” a spokesman for City said.
Manchester City owner unhappy with club's European failures, admits manager Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini has admitted that Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan is “upset” by the club’s Champions League failings.
Mancini, who claims he has only 11 fit players for Tuesday night’s crucial Group D fixture against Ajax at the Etihad Stadium, could see his team eliminated from the competition if the Dutch champions are not beaten.
A second successive exit at the Champions League group stage would further add to Mancini’s unimpressive record in the competition – he has never taken a team beyond the quarter-finals – but the Italian insists he shares Sheikh Mansour’s frustrations with Manchester City’s results against the cream of Europe.
“The owners are upset [by the results] but this is normal, I think,” Mancini said. “I don’t think that they are happy, but for me to work with these people is fantastic because you can work without problems.
“They always support the team and to have an owner and chairman like this is very important for any manager. When we lose or only take one point, like against West Ham, I am disappointed. But this is normal and it is the same for the owner and chairman.”
Having bristled at questions about his commitment to the club following interest from Monaco before he signed a new five-year contract in the summer, Mancini gave a defiant defence of his record as City manager.
But while a group stage exit would be regarded as a failure by the club’s Abu Dhabi owners, there are no moves to part company with Mancini, particularly with the club unbeaten in the Premier League this season.
“My work is here, I’ve worked for two years and I built with the chairman and owner this team,” Mancini said. “We won three trophies in two years, but for 35 years we didn’t win anything – never.
“Every year I can have two or three new situations where I can go, but I want to stay here, I decided to stay here at this club because I have worked hard.”
Mancini admits City’s injury problems are likely to pose the biggest hurdle to success against Ajax.
“We will find 11 players who can play this important game,” he said. “We have a problem with some important players injured, but when you have this problem, it’s the kind that means the players should give more on the pitch.
“Last year, at this stage in the Premier League, we scored 36 goals and now we have scored 18.
“We have important players injured but we are still two points behind Manchester United, so after 10 games, I don’t think we have a big problem.”
Roberto Mancini reacts angrily to Manchester City job questions
Play mediaManchester City manager Roberto Mancini reacts angrily to being asked again about rumours he considered leaving the club, saying he deserves more respect.
The Italian revealed on Friday he had a number of opportunities to leave City, before signing a new five-year contract.
Mancini was speaking ahead of Tuesday's crucial Champions League group game against Ajax, with City sitting bottom of Group D after three games
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MCF.net thread: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=44350
Zzzzz ... City on De Rossi alert
ROMA have put Manchester City on alert by admitting they will listen to offers for their skipper Daniele de Rossi in January.
City’s pursuit of the £30million-rated Italy midfielder was one of the sagas of the summer.
De Rossi opted to stay with his Serie A club, leading Roberto Mancini to sign Javi Garcia from Benfica instead.
Now De Rossi, 29, has fallen out with Roma coach Zdenek Zeman and his future is again in doubt.
General manager Franco Baldini said: “In the summer there was an offer made by Manchester City. We listened to that offer and considered it.
“If we were to get another offer we would listen again.”
James Lawton: Guardiola looms large as Mancini and City stumble in Europe
Now that two of his most admiring amigos form the new Manchester City hierarchy, Pep Guardiola is understandably enough a huge shadow over the increasingly dislocated Roberto Mancini. But surely he is not the only one. Indeed, the list of those who you would have to back to make more of an impact on the Champions League with one of the most expensively assembled squads in the history of football is getting embarrassingly long.
If the Italian is increasingly waspish about the level of pressure he is experiencing before tonight's re-match with the young and unproven Ajax team which ripped City apart in Amsterdam two weeks ago, he doesn't have to look too far for its source. Most of it is being generated by the self-destructive stream of his own consciousness which has accompanied, step by faltering step, his latest misadventures in the game's most prestigious club tournament.
Mancini's pitiful record in Europe is bad enough but just as damaging is that almost every time he opens his mouth he gives us an insight into the likely reasons why it is quite so dire.
Yesterday he was visibly smarting under the weight of persistent questioning about his job security at the Etihad Stadium and the inevitably looming image of Guardiola with the appointment of his Barcelona confederates Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain as, respectively, chief executive and director of football. But as the speculation intensifies around his shaky tenure, Mancini continues to provide reasons why such luminaries as Barça's two-time Champions League winner Guardiola, Jose Mourinho – a contender to become the first coach to win the prize with three separate clubs – and old blood-and-guts Sir Alex Ferguson have to be seen in an entirely different dimension.
Mancini talks endlessly of the Champions League as some torturous, learn-as-you-lose exercise even as new-wave coaches like Ajax's Frank de Boer and Jürgen Klopp of Borussia Dortmund light up the competition – and in successive ties utterly outplayed City.
Yesterday the City manager's bizarre thesis was stretching towards the surreal. "We're a good team but we're not ready in the Champions League like the other teams. Chelsea tried for 10 years to win the Champions' League. They were probably the best team in Europe for 10 years and they won it when they probably didn't deserve to. They deserved to win it three or four years before. The Champions League is like this."
Yes, indeed they did, but only Mancini in his current mode could advance the point as some kind of justification for his serial disasters. Chelsea might have won in 2008 if John Terry hadn't slipped on his backside at a pivotal moment in the club's history and a year later they might well have done it if a Norwegian referee hadn't sabotaged so profoundly their brilliant performance against, Barcelona, of all opponents.
When Chelsea lost in Moscow it wasn't for a lack of nerve or competitive courage against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. They didn't skulk into the dark Russian night under the command of Avram Grant, a coach who, for all his perceived weaknesses, didn't talk endlessly of the need to learn the European ropes.
This was also Mancini yesterday: "I don't think we're ready to win the Champions League. If we say we are, we are not honest."
We should remember something which it is reasonable to believe has already been noted by the new inhabitants of the executive suite of Manchester City. This is not a greenhorn manager nurturing a bunch of callow, ill-considered players plainly operating out of their depth. It is a coach who had four cracks at the competition in Italy, once with Lazio and three times with Internazionale, and finished bottom of the qualifying group once, and failed in two quarter-finals and one round of 16. It surely added up to some kind of learning experience but one that has hardly radiated much hope or insight into, so far, two catastrophic crusades with City.
Nor can Mancini plead that he suffers in comparison to the resources of a Klopp, De Boer or Huub Stevens, the Schalke coach who ambushed Arsenal at the Emirates a fortnight ago. Mancini has troops as seasoned – and potentially dominant – as Yaya Touré, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Samir Nasri, Carlos Tevez and, on the kind of night he enjoyed against Germany in the Euro semi-final, Mario Balotelli. This should not be a tentative expeditionary force. It should be ready to engage the action on any battlefield.
The most persistent word is that Guardiola is assessing his best opportunity as the days of his New York sabbatical slip away, with a Chelsea now adorned by the skills of Oscar and Hazard and Mata at the head of the list. But then City have so much to offer the reuniting of the Three Amigos. They have a developing scouting system, one that might one day soon have the drawing power of the fabled Barça academy, and the resources to make the key moves a new coach might need to make a team in his own image.
Guardiola has the aura of both a winner and the author of beautiful football. Klopp and De Boer have seized on the adventurous instincts and excitement of talented youth. Mourinho continues to find ways of shaping any situation to his own advantage, and it is interesting to remember that for all his ruthlessness he was given a teary farewell by the Internazionale players he guided to Champions League glory at the second time of asking.
Mourinho didn't speak of some fiendish seminar stretching out into a distant future. He made his assessments and operated from his club's strength. Most of all he lived in the moment. There is a mound of circumstantial evidence to say it is almost certainly too late, but Roberto Mancini should really give it a try.
It ain't all bad ....
The current form of the other teams defendinding their domestic titles in City's group D of Chumps league death puts a bit of perspective on City's current 'plight'
Real Madrid are currently 8 points adrift of the leaders, Ajax 9 points and Dortmund 11 ... so 2 points off the top spot domestically is hardly wrist slitting stuff ...
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]CHUMPS LEAGUE ROUND UP OF BOLLOX
Champions League: Group-by-group permutations
After three rounds of matches, 136 goals, 1,263 fouls and six red cards, the group stage of this season's Champions League has reached its halfway point. Manchester United are sitting pretty at the top of their group, but rivals Manchester City are in danger of an early exit for the second straight season. Chelsea, Arsenal and Celtic are all still in the mix for a top-two finish, but what is the story across Europe? BBC Sport takes a look at the standings.
Group A
Porto are in control after winning all three of their games so far. The Portuguese side saw off Dynamo Kiev last time out thanks to a brace from Jackson Martinez and are three points clear of big-spending Paris Saint-Germain, who lie in second place.
PSG host Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday, with the Croatians looking for their first points of the tournament, while Kiev still have hopes of qualifying with two home games left.
Group B
Arsenal's 2-0 defeat at home by Schalke last time out means the German side are unbeaten and top of the group, with seven points from three games. Arsenal are still well-placed in second, but another defeat in the return fixture this week would open up the group and leave them vulnerable.
Olympiakos are in third place after their win in Montpellier, with the French side struggling at the foot of the group.
Group C
Malaga are the surprise package, with a 1-0 win over AC Milan last time out putting the Spanish side five points clear at the top. Milan can close the gap with a win at home to Malaga this week, but Manuel Pellegrini's La Liga side are yet to concede in the competition. Zenit St Petersburg remain in the hunt for a top-two finish, with their 4 December trip to Milan looking like it could be crucial.
Group D
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has admitted his side "need a miracle" to qualify after picking up only one point from their opening three games.
City are bottom of the group, with Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid looking favourites to make the last 16.
However, if City beat Ajax at home on Tuesday they will keep their hopes alive before welcoming Real to Manchester later this month and ending their campaign in Dortmund.
Real Madrid's former Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the tournament's top scorer with five goals in the three games so far.
Group E
Champions League holders Chelsea's hopes of topping the group took a dent with their 2-1 defeat in Donetsk last month.
Boss Roberto Di Matteo has targeted two home wins from their remaining games against Shakhtar and Nordsjaelland to qualify.
Juventus have drawn all three games to lie in third spot, and Di Matteo's side are still to travel to Turin.
Group F
In the competition's tightest group Bayern Munich, Valencia and BATE Borisov are locked at the top on six points each.
Borisov - from Belarus - pulled off the shock of the tournament so far when they beat last year's finalists Bayern at the start of October, and have a real chance of making it through to the knockout stages.
Lille look destined to finish bottom of the group, losing all three games so far and scoring only once in the process.
Group G
Unsurprisingly, Barcelona look comfortable at the top with a 100% record as Tito Vilanova's side look for a fourth title in eight seasons.
Celtic came within seconds of holding on for a famous draw at the Nou Camp last time out, and Neil Lennon's men could move a step closer to qualification if they manage any sort of result against Barca in Glasgow on Wednesday night.
Much could rest on the Bhoys' final game, at home to Spartak Moscow on 5 December.
Spartak and Benfica could both still take second spot though, with the sides meeting in Portugal this week.
Group H
Manchester United came from 2-0 down to beat Braga last month and move five points clear at the top of their group.
But Alex Ferguson's men could still come unstuck with back-to-back away games, at Braga on Wednesday then at Galatasary later this month. Romanian side Cluj have given themselves a chance of making it out of the group stage for the first time after collecting four points from their first three games and are second in the table.
NQDP's CORNER
Is Mark Hughes the Most Deluded Man in Football?
A quick glance at Tony Fernandes’ Twitter bio sees the internationally renowned entrepreneur and Queens Park Rangers chairman describe himself as a dreamer.
Scroll a little further down and you will find him once again urging QPR supporters for patience; the message: “keep calm, we will come good.”
It will seem all too familiar to fans, who, with more than a quarter of the season played and still no wins, are left wondering when Fernandes will wake up and bring the nightmare reign of Mark Hughes to an end.
The problem with the influx of wealthy outsiders into the game’s highest positions is that they are not footballing men, they do not have the knowledge and understanding of the sport that past owners had, and rely heavily on advisers whose motives do not always match up with their own or those of the fans.
Despite spending the summer assembling a team of mercenaries akin to the latest Expendables blockbuster, Fernandes finds his team 7 league positions worse off than at this stage last season, and must be scratching his head as to where he has gone wrong.
Fernandes is just the latest in a line of foreign owners to be disappointed by Hughes, and it is hard not to feel a tinge of sympathy towards him (as much sympathy as one can have for a multimillionaire).
Hughes spent an astonishing total of £272.75 million in just 18 months at Manchester City, failing to get anywhere near the best out of big name signings such as Adebayor (£25m), Tevez (£25.5m), Lescott (£22m), and Bellamy (£14m); and wasting big money on flops such as Robinho (32.5m), Jo (£18m), and Roque Santa Cruz (£17.5m). After a spell of just 2 wins in 11 league games he was replaced by Roberto Mancini who has since gone on to win the FA Cup and Premier League with many of the same players that Hughes had at his disposal.
It was therefore a surprise when Fulham owner Mohammed al Fayed gave him another chance to manage a Premier League club, but bizarrely after less than 11 months Hughes repaid him by resigning, stating: “as a young, ambitious manager I wish to move on to further my experiences.” Leaving a bemused al Fayed to describe Hughes as “a strange man”.
A year later Hughes was presiding over West London rivals QPR in a relegation dogfight, while Fulham finished in the top half of the table.
It wouldn’t be the last statement to come back to haunt Hughes.
After losing the last game of the season at Manchester City and avoiding relegation by just 1 point in May he uttered the now infamous lines, “We’ll never be in this situation again while I’m the manager”.
With an extrapolated points total of just 15 if the remaining 28 games follow the same pattern as the first 10, many QPR fans would now happily settle for a situation in which they achieve survival come next May.
Watching his post match interview after the Reading game this weekend, you would think the Welshmans side had just come off the pitch at Old Trafford; not at home against a newly promoted club who had not won a game all season and were recovering from a draining 120 minutes of midweek madness against Arsenal in which they managed to concede 7 times.
“Teams aren’t going to allow us to play our expansive game and pass and move.” He says.
Newsflash: no team, not even Reading, are going to turn up and allow you to pass the ball around them and make them look like chumps.
If you are unable to assert your style of play at home against one of the weakest sides in the league one wonders if this style of play is really the best way forward, or indeed if it exists at all outside the realms of Hughes’ imagination.
“The key is that first win, once we get that things will settle down and we can play our football.”
This is another of his favourite lines lately which suggests there is a Pandora’s box just waiting to be opened at Loftus Road and upon the receival of 3 points we will all suddenly see a dazzling new QPR whizz up the table and take up their rightful place challenging for a Champions League spot with Barcelona style flair and possession.
For anybody still believing the fantasy that Hughes is a great footballing scholar in the mould of Guardiola or Del Bosque: his rough and ready Blackburn side finished rock bottom of the disciplinary table all 4 seasons he was in charge; last season his club captain was Joey Barton – he is by no means a purist. This is just the latest smoke screen to deter fans and Fernandes from unsatisfactory performances and results and to keep himself in the job a little longer; a job which will surely be his last in the Premier League.
There have been arrogant managers before him, great ones too, like Brian Clough and Jose Mourinho. They get away with it by coming across as charismatic, inspiring, likeable. There is nothing likeable about Hughes. He lacks charm and charisma, and has twice failed to get anywhere near the best out of two expensively assembled teams. His greatest achievement to date is leading Blackburn Rovers to the FA Cup semi finals, but listening to him in interviews you would think he had achieved as much as the greats mentioned above.
Fernandes certainly wants to believe the hype, confidently outlining plans last week for a new 45,000 capacity stadium stating “if we are playing good football and have a good stadium, people will come”.
Hughes, who turned 49 last week, surely won’t be at Loftus Road by the time he turns 50. The question is how many more dreamers like Fernandes will be conned by the dour Welshman and leave their club at the whim of his unique blend of arrogance, overspending and dangerous delusions of grandeur.
His Master's Voice - DSSC BOLLOX
Fergie: City need to start praying if they're to get through Champions League group stage
Alex Ferguson has backed Arsenal and Chelsea to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League – but admits Manchester City have left themselves ‘praying’ for other results to go their way.
Even if Roberto Mancini’s side win their remaining three games against Ajax, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, there are no guarantees they will qualify.
Arsenal and Chelsea, on the other hand, lie second in their groups despite losing against Schalke and Shakhtar Donetsk last time out.
Asked if those teams will make it through, Ferguson said: ‘I think so, they should. But City have got the hardest job and they know that themselves.
‘Dortmund beating Real Madrid was the last result they wanted.
‘Although Dortmund have got to go to Madrid, City will be hoping and praying they beat them because City have to go to Dortmund, which is not an easy game, and win. I watched the Dortmund Madrid game and they were brilliant.’
Manchester United are in a much more comfortable position in Group H with maximum points from their opening three games.
A draw in Braga on Wednesday night will give United the 10 points Ferguson hopes will effectively clinch qualification.
‘It depends on the result of the other game,’ said the United boss. ‘I’m hoping that Galatasaray get a result over in Cluj and make it easier for us.
‘I’ll be making some changes for Wednesday and we want to win. If we can get the win it’s better, but we want to make sure we qualify first.’
After seeing captain Nemanja Vidic ruled out until after Christmas, Ferguson is looking forward to the return of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones to relieve some of the pressure on veteran defender Rio Ferdinand.
Smalling is back in full training following surgery on a broken metatarsal, while Jones is expected to start work this week after recovering from knee surgery.
Ferguson added: ‘Smalling’s training fine. I think (he could play) maybe not next week but the week after because we want to make sure he’s back and stays back.
‘It gives me options to make sure that Ferdinand is fresh for all these games and I don’t have to worry about playing him Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday. That’s an important issue.’
Ched Evans refused appeal against rape conviction
Judges also rejected Ched Evans's bid to cut his five-year jail sentence
Footballer Ched Evans has lost the right to appeal against his conviction for rape.
Evans was convicted in April of the rape of a 19-year old-woman at a Premier Inn in Rhyl, Denbighshire.
Three judges at the Court of Appeal sitting in London refused to give leave to appeal by the former Wales and Sheffield United striker.
The judges also threw out a bid by Evans originally from Rhyl, Denbighshire, to have his sentence cut.
Rejecting the conviction challenge by Evans, Lord Judge, said: "We can see no possible basis which would justify us interfering with the verdict of the jury, which heard all the evidence and reflected on it after careful summing up by the judge."
Evans was jailed at Caernarfon Crown Court on 20 April for raping the woman in a Rhyl hotel room.
The footballer admitted having sex with her but the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury that she had no memory of the incident.
The prosecution argued that she was too drunk to consent.
Evans was convicted by a jury but his co-defendant, Port Vale defender Clayton McDonald, 23, who also admitted having sex with the victim, was found not guilty.
Separate case
Following the conclusion of the trial, the victim was named by people between 20-22 April on Twitter and Facebook.
Ten appeared at Prestatyn magistrates on Monday where nine pleaded guilty to publishing material likely lead members of the public to identify the complainant in a rape case, contrary to the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992.
They were each told to pay £624 in damages to the woman.
A 10th defendant denied the charge. She was granted bail until 21 January.
Chelsea are considering moves for Marseille's France striker Loic Remy, 25, and Porto's Colombian forward Jackson Martinez, 26, after being put off by Atletico Madrid's £46m valuation for Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, 26. Daily Mirror
Chelsea are considering Porto's Jackson Martinez
Tottenham could move for Andy Carroll in January. Liverpool's England striker, 23, is on loan at West Ham. Metro
Liverpool are closing in on Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The German side are understood to be ready to let their 29-year-old Dutch international leave in January, although Liverpool's £9m valuation may not be enough. Daily Mirror
Lille coach Rudi Garcia wants to re-sign Liverpool midfielder Joe Cole, 30, who spent last season on loan with the French club, but admits it is not financially possible. Sky Sports
Reading are preparing a move for Arsenal's £15m-rated Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin, 31. Sun
Manchester United are considering Blackpool winger Tom Ince, 20, as a potential replacement for Nani, 25. Ince is an option for Sir Alex Ferguson due to uncertainty over the Portuguese winger's future. Daily Mirror
Leeds want to keep Stoke midfielder Michael Tonge, 29, who has more than half of his three-month loan deal at Elland Road remaining, for the rest of the season. Yorkshire Evening Post
Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross, 25, who has 18 months left on his contract, has been offered a six-year deal as the Potters attempt to ward off interest from former club Manchester United and Tottenham.
Mathieu Debuchy Daily Telegraph
Lille's France right-back Mathieu Debuchy, 27, admits he was disappointed not to join Newcastle during the summer and does not expect to move in the January transfer window. L'Equipe
Portsmouth manager Michael Appleton has emerged as the strong favourite to replace Ian Holloway at Blackpool.DSSC
Spanish defender Marc Bartra, 21, insists he has no issues with Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi, despite reports of a training-ground clash with the striker at the start of the season. Marca
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 27, has revealed he would vote for himself to win the Ballon d'Or if it was allowed. He added: "I am what I am and I'm delighted." France Football
Neymar, 20, who has been linked with a move to Barcelona and is rated as the best young striker in Brazil, has joked that the only way he will play alongside Lionel Messi is if the Argentina forward joins him at Santos. El Mundo
