Adriano back on the radar?
City feature heavily across several fronts today, with an old target resurfacing from Inter and Roman Abramovich being knocked off his perch just two of the stories on offer.
Daily Mirror
"Manchester City consider swapping Jo for Inter star Adriano"
Manchester City have been offered Brazilian striker Adriano in a swap deal with Jo.
Inter Milan are desperate to get rid of Adriano, 26, in the transfer window and fined him after he returned late from his extended Christmas break.
A mooted move to Chelsea has not materialised and now Inter are trying to interest City.
They feel Mark Hughes' Blues may take up their offer as former owner Thaksin Shinawatra expressed his interest in Adriano 12 months ago.
Inter also want to do business with City because they are keen on Eastlands Samba misfit Jo.
The Serie A champions have been tracking him since he scored against them for CSKA Moscow in the Champions League and lost out to City in the race for his signature in the summer.
Boss Hughes would consider offloading Jo as the Brazilian international striker has failed to live up to his £19million price-tag.
He has struggled with the pace and physical demands of the Premier League and Hughes has also been unhappy with his attitude.
However Hughes would not let him go until he has at least brought in Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn to replace him.
It also remains to be seen if Hughes would want to sign another troublesome Brazilian in Adriano when Elano is causing him enough problems.
Daily Telegraph
"Manchester City targeting 'two world-class players in every position'"
While Eastlands boss Mark Hughes is spending January trying to secure the experienced Premier League campaigners he desperately needs to avoid a relegation battle this season, the club's owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has a very different longterm vision for his side.
The oil tycoon believes if City are to topple the likes of local rivals Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona to triumph on a domestic and European scale, the club must boast a squad of 22 of the biggest talents in world football.
The belief of the club's powerbrokers is that such strength in depth is the only way to ensure competition for places and guarantee success.
City stunned their Premier League rivals and the rest of the football world when they stole a march on Chelsea to land Brazilian superstar Robinho for a British record £32 million on transfer deadline day in August.
The former Real Madrid man's success since arriving in Manchester bears testament to the wisdom of splashing out on proven quality. More signings of his calibre are likely to follow as Sheikh Mansour begins to fulfil his dream of making City a global brand and a footballing force.
A club source said: "There's a consensus among the owners and the manager that success is inevitably going to involve having depth of talent which involves having two players competing for every position." In the corridors of the City of Manchester Stadium, however, it is acknowledged that such headline grabbing transfers will have to wait until the summer at the earliest.
Full article
Daily Telegraph
"Roman Abramovich loses rich list top spot to Manchester City owner"
Abramovich had topped the list since buying Chelsea in 2003, but his wealth is believed to have declined by £3 billion and is now said to stand at £7 billion according to the 2009 Football Rich List.
That is less than half the estimated worth of Sheikh Mansour, whose wealth is put at a staggering £15 billion.
Abramovich has also been overtaken in the list by Lakshmi Mittal, the 58-year-old Indian industrialist who has invested in QPR.
Manchester City have already demonstrated their spending power since the arrival of Sheikh Mansour by beating Chelsea to the signature of Brazil's Robinho and now buying Wayne Bridge.
Produced by FourFourTwo magazine, the list also outlined an overall increase in the wealth of the top 100 people in football from £41.7 billion to £61 billion, although that difference is effectively explained by the changes at City and QPR.
Full article
The Guardian
"Allardyce hopes Santa Cruz will stay but lines up Diouf as a fall-back"
The Blackburn Rovers manager, Sam Allardyce, has said that Roque Santa Cruz could remain at Ewood Park beyond the transfer window despite an impending big-money offer for the striker from Manchester City.
City are expected to lodge a formal offer of £18m plus Tal Ben Haim this week and are confident of reuniting Mark Hughes with the striker he brought to Blackburn for £3.8m from Bayern Munich in 2007. That sum would enable Allardyce to reinvest in his relegation-threatened squad, with El Hadji Diouf a principal target, and could yet alter the manager's stance on the Paraguay international.
Hughes, the City manager, is known to be frustrated with the time it has taken his club to make official moves for Santa Cruz, as well as the West Ham pair of Scott Parker and Craig Bellamy, having wanted key purchases concluded in the opening week of the transfer window. And his pursuit of Santa Cruz is likely to be delayed further after Allardyce insisted Blackburn were under no pressure to sell.
"I wouldn't want to lose him but, at the end of the day, I'm not the chairman of the football club, John Williams is the chairman of the football club. Any bid would have to be considered both by me and the chairman," said Allardyce. "In the end that decision – I would hope – would be taken together but the chairman will always have the final say.
"I'm not saying we have to sell him or not because I don't think we will. I think that, whatever decision we come to, we will stick by it and stick by it together. But at the moment we have had no bid and personally I hope we don't get one."
Hughes is also frustrated by his attempts to improve the defence, seen by many as the area of his team that needs strengthening most urgently. Given the deterioration in the form of Micah Richards, Hughes wants Kolo Touré to take over in the centre of defence. City, again, had hoped to conclude the deal in the first week of the transfer window but the situation has been changing on an almost daily basis because of uncertainties in the player's state of mind and confusion about Arsenal's willingness to sell. City have also been linked with his brother, Yaya, of Barcelona. A source at the Spanish club was reported as saying: "There is an offer for Yaya but the club will do what is necessary to convince the player to stay."
Alex, Chelsea's Brazilian centre-half, is another option in defence but his club's reluctance to sell has already seen Real Madrid fail with a £20m bid last summer and City do not value him at that.
Richards yesterday responded to criticism of his performances this season, claiming he deserves his place in the side. "I think me and Richard Dunne had a good record last season but it has not been the same this season," he said. "I know some people have been critical of my performances this season but all players have dips and I'm staying positive. I know I give 100%. People are saying stuff about me looking slower or heavier but that's rubbish. I've played 100 first-team games, which I feel is a good achievement for someone of my age. I aim to make the most of my chances."
The Independent
"City's pursuit of players moving at snail's pace"
Manchester City are facing a monumental struggle to recruit for the central defensive berth which appears to present their most acute weakness.
The club's pursuit of Chelsea's Brazilian Alex appears to be a lost cause – Chelsea are evidently unwilling to release a player for whom they resisted a £20m bid from Real Madrid last summer – and attempts to secure the services of Kolo Touré are proving equally challenging. Both Arsenal and player are blowing hot and cold, though City were heartened by a change of mood music from the Emirates last Friday, having all but conceded defeat on the issue days earlier. The proposed move for a player expected to cost £12-15m is still said by one source to be "on and off on a daily basis".
Suggestions via sources in Spain that the Ivorian's brother Yaya Touré is also in City's sights are accurate, though the idea had been to hire the Barcelona player in the summer, with Kolo's presence at the club by then conceivably an added attraction.
The pursuit of Roque Santa Cruz and Scott Parker also inched on yesterday though the pace was frustrating some at the club, who are aware of the need to reinforce Mark Hughes' depleted side before the trip to Portsmouth on Saturday. The Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce indicated that a bid had still to be lodged for Santa Cruz and though he said he would not like to sell him he was by no means unequivocal on that point.
Santa Cruz tops striker chase?
The Independent says...
'City turn focus on Santa Cruz'
Blackburn striker tops Hughes' list of targets as doubts grow over Bellamy
Manchester City's attentions have turned to the pursuit of Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz, with the club aware that their attempts to sign Scott Parker and Craig Bellamy may be dependent on West Ham failing to offload a string of less valued players.
City, who have also earmarked Chelsea's Alex as an individual who could resolve their chronic central defensive problems, sense their West Ham project may be a longer game.
There is a general feeling that the Hammers may need to find £8-9m to meet their interest payments until the end of the season and that if four or more of the lower rank players, such as Calum Davenport, Nigel Quashie, Jonathan Spector and Luis Boa Morte, were sold then the need to raise money, by accepting an offer better than the £15m City have already made in a joint bid for Parker and Bellamy, will not be necessary.
There has been no further contact between the two clubs since the Hammers flatly rejected the initial joint bid over the final weekend of 2008 and the pursuit of Blackburn's Paraguayan striker is more imminent, though as of yesterday Rovers were yet to receive a formal offer from City. "We have not made any bid for a player, and not received one," said Blackburn's chairman John Williams.
But City's preparations for an approach for a player that their manager, Mark Hughes, signed from Bayern Munich when at Blackburn have gathered pace since Saturday's abysmal FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest. It will soon become clear whether £18m will be enough to persuade Rovers to release the striker.
The view from within Ewood Park is that the club will need four strikers as they continue their push for Premier League survival. There is a reluctance to sell a player the club still consider to be their best asset, despite the indifferent season he has experienced so far, but Rovers are also aware that Bolton survived last season having offloaded Nicolas Anelka.
One of the club's worries is how they will replace Santa Cruz, though the renaissance of Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts will certainly help Hughes' cause in that respect and may remove some of the angst Rovers might feel in doing business. A £20m deal is by no means improbable, even though City said a month back that they would walk away from clubs who asked over the odds.
Rumours have been circulating for some time about Alex's future at Stamford Bridge. Luiz Felipe Scolari insisted last month that nothing should be read into the decision to recall the England Under-21 defender Michael Mancienne from a loan period at Wolves and that Alex's future was secure. But with Richard Dunne's disintegration now seemingly affecting the form of Micah Richards, the centre of defence is where Hughes is in most urgent need of reinforcements.
The pursuit of Kolo Touré is also back on, after initial indications that Arsenal were unwilling to release him. There is some concern that the north London club may hold out for a sum which, even by City's standards, is simply too high. It is understood £15m may be the figure Arsenal are looking for. Among the West Ham contingent, City's attempts to bring Parker to Eastlands look more feasible than the pursuit of Bellamy at this stage. It is understood West Ham may be willing to release only one of the two players.
Though Bayern Munich have declared Germany striker Lukas Podolski is for sale for £10m there were no immediate suggestions from City that they wanted to sign him.
The Sun add...
'Sparky stay is a Dunne deal'
RICHARD DUNNE insists Manchester City’s billionaire board must stick by manager Mark Hughes.
Sparky is clinging on to his job by his fingertips, with City two points above the Premier League drop zone and out of the FA Cup after a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The club’s Arab owners have given him £100million to spend in the transfer window despite fans calling for his head.
And City skipper Dunne, 29, said: “The club need to keep backing him because the players believe what we are doing in training is right. Hopefully he will get the chance to show what he can do in the transfer market.
“We have had a couple of poor results and people have been too quick to point the finger.
“In training, the manager has been confident and telling us it will turn around — and that has helped the players.”
The Sun also tell us...
'City make £24m bid for Yaya'
MANCHESTER CITY have made a stunning £24million bid for Barcelona midfield star Yaya Toure.
Barca will fight tooth and nail to keep Toure.
A top source at the club said: “There is an offer for Yaya but the club will do what is necessary to convince the player to stay.”
Yaya, younger brother of Arsenal defender Kolo Toure, earns £2.4million a year at the Nou Camp.
It is understood City will DOUBLE his wages in an effort to tempt him away.
The Ivory Coast ace, 25, is unsettled as Barca had promised him a new deal last summer but it never materialised.
Toure, who has also been a target for Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, is considered one of the best central midfielders in Europe and has been dubbed the ‘new Patrick Vieira’ in Spain.
He snubbed Arsenal in favour of Barca when he left Monaco 18 months ago.
He was linked with Italian giants Juventus last summer but Barcelona refused to sell.
He scored a sensational solo goal in the 3-1 win over Real Mallorca last weekend.
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