Manchester City baulk at Dzeko fee as Arsenal are linked with Marchetti, Matersacker & Jagielka

Comment & analysis round-up

Quote of the day: Torres would definitely make us better. Hes one of the top strikers in the world and I would love to have him as a team-mate. Last year we ended up contesting the Champions League places. I have no doubt that this year we will achieve that aim and fight for the title. The club will pick up reinforcements and this will make us stronger. I know Ive never regretted coming to City. Its the best decision I ever made. - Carlos Tevez.

Runner-up: Fernando Torres has told us he wants to come back, hes told us hes looking forward to Monday and getting back to work and playing for us next season. Thats what we know and as far as Im concerned, all others reports are erroneous. - Roy Hodgson.

Cesc Fabregas quote of the day: There are still noises from Barcelona - but that is all it is. In our job you dont worry about things you cannot control. We are very happy with Cesc at the club. He is a very important and is our captain. We have worked very hard with him. - Arsene Wenger.

James Milner quote of the day: The latest state of play is that Manchester City have gone as far as they want to. Well wait with baited breath on that one. Obviously the over-riding opinion of Villa fans is that they would love James to stay at the football club, but as I speak here now, I cannot guarantee that. - Martin ONeill.

The really? quote of the day: The money is there if we believe there is a player who can improve what we believe is a very good squad, the team has been together for a number of years and done very well. In order to improve it a player has to be of a very high quality. We are always looking at players. We are looking 365 days a year - it does not just start when the transfer window opens. Overall I think Sir Alex is very! comfort able with the squad composition. Thats not to say something wont happen, but I think it is a might, not a will. We will see what happens over the next six weeks. - David Gill.

Todays overview:Transfers continue to dominate. Manchester Citys pursuit of Mario Balotelli is questioned by Ian Herbert whilst the Citizens appear to have given up on Edin Dzeko. In another article on the Eastlands free-spenders Ian Ladyman looks at how City are attempting to conquer America.

Arsenal also feature heavily with Barcelona unable to afford Cesc Fabregas, Arsene Wenger is linked with moves for Federico Marchetti, Per Matersacker and Phil Jagielka. Liverpool are supposed to be swooping for Park Chu-Young and Luke Young and West Ham are pulling out all the stops to hold on to Scott Parker.

Spains Under-19 victory over England in the semi-finals of the European Championships is also analysed. The Sun criticise Fabio Capello for staying away whilst James Lawton feels the Italian made the right decision. Also worth a butchers is Jonathan Wilson on the Russian Premier League.

Manchester City: On Citys transfer moves, David McDonnell reveals Manchester City hope to thrash out a deal for Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli when the two clubs meet this week ahead of their game in the US on Friday. City officials will meet with their Inter counterparts before the pre-season friendly in Baltimore, in the hope of bringing a successful conclusion to their pursuit of the 19-year-old striker. Inter want 30m for Balotelli but City are only willing to pay 20m, with the fee rising to a maximum of 25m upon the completion of certain add-on clauses within the deal. Despite the disparity in the valuation of the player between the two clubs, City remain confident of getting Balotelli, whose volatile character has made him a liability at Inter.

Ian He! rbert wr ites of the gamble of signing Mario Balotelli. It took Manchester Citys previous expensive striker of African descent 28 days of the last football season to plunge himself into a storm of controversy. To judge by his track record, the club will be lucky if the prospective next one waits that long. If Emmanuel Adebayors mind was a simmering ball of anger waiting to vent itself on the Arsenal fans who he felt had betrayed him, then Mario Balotelli, who City are confident of signing, is a timebomb ready to immolate any who stand in his way. City may discover soon enough if the 19-year-old has been a victim or a perpetrator during his short and controversial career at Internazionale and, more significantly, whether manager Roberto Mancini can tame him. The history is a complicated one and bound up in the question of the Italian nations seeming inability to embrace a multi-ethnic identity.

A move for Edin Dzeko has now been ruled out, according to Rory Smith. Manchester City are on the verge of conceding defeat in the race to sign Edin Dzeko because of the refusal of Wolfsburg to reduce their 35 million asking price. City, along with Juventus, have pursued the Bosnia international for much of the summer but have been unable to come to a compromise with the Bundesliga team, managed by the former England coach Steve McClaren, on their valuation. The Premier League side are believed to be willing to pay no more than about 25 million for Dzeko, who has scored 56 goals in 94 games and helped Wolfsburg to the league title since moving to Germany three years ago.

Ian Ladyman looks at the global issues affecting Manchester City. As the Path Train from Harrison, New Jersey, pulled into its second stop in Manhattan on Sunday, a group of Manchester City supporters jogged up the subway steps and ambled off down 33rd Street in the early evening sunshine. The same group were probably in Germany several years ago with Kevin Keegans City side. Or in Scandinavia following Stuart Pearce and his players. These days,! their c lub has much bigger ideas. In some ways, City and America sit quite well together. Exciting, ambitious, optimistic and wealthy. It will be interesting to see, however, if City can make things work as they attempt to follow the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool in selling football across the globe.

Barcelona cant afford Cesc Fabregas: Vikki Orvice reports Barcelonas bid to lure Cesc Fabregas hit another stumbling block yesterday when it was revealed they have debts of 369million. A new audit into the Spanish giants finances showed they made a loss of more than 64.36m last season. And the financial problems for new president Sandro Rosell may mean they will have to finally give up on Arsenal midfielder Fabregas. The previous board, led by Joan Laporta, claimed the club was only 9.2m in the red at the end of June. But the new audit has now revealed a far worse scenario.

Also on Arsenal, Mark Irwin claims Arsenal are lining up a 5.5million move for Italy World Cup keeper Federico Marchetti. His Cagliari club president Massimo Cellino said last night: Marchetti has expressed his desire to leave. The only real club pushing for his signature is Arsenal and we will do everything to make him happy. Wenger has targeted another keeper after losing faith with Spaniard Manuel Almunia. The Arsenal boss is confident he can land Marchetti, 27, now his transfer request has been granted by Cagliari.

John Cross chirps in the Daily Mirror that Sol Campbell is heading towards Newcastle - leaving Arsenal ready to turn to Per Mertesacker to solve their defensive crisis. Arsene Wenger was confident of signing 35-year-old Campbell on a one-year deal but newly-promoted Newcastle made an 11th hour move to snatch the ex-England defender. Gunners boss Wenger is now left in the lurch and has quickly moved for Germany World Cup defender Mertesacker to bolster his squad! .

Jeremy Wilson claims Phil Jagielka is Arsenals first choice. Arsne Wenger intends to buy a second central defender this summer, with Evertons Phil Jagielka still topping his list of targets. Arsenal had an initial bid of around 10 million rejected in June and are likely to make a fresh offer now that Sol Campbell is inching towards a free transfer to Newcastle. Wenger had hoped that Campbell would stay for a further season as back-up to Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou and new signing Laurent Koscielny but is now actively pursuing other targets.

Liverpool: The Sun link Roy Hodgson with further moves in the transfer market: Liverpool have moved a step closer to signing Park Chu-Young after the South Korean told Monaco he wants to leave the club.
Reds boss Roy Hodgson has been tracking the 6m-rated striker, 25, although Birmingham are also keen. And Liverpool are set to make a 2.75million move for Aston Villa defender Luke Young.

David Maddock writes of the imminent exit of Javier Mascherano. If Liverpool can get 30million for Mascherano, they could find a replacement for half that, and have money left over to spend on another matchwinner to complement Gerrard, Torres and Cole. That is good business whichever way you look at it, while selling Gerrard and Torres even for a combined fee of in excess of 100million, would leave such a massive hole that it would destroy the morale of the club. So if Hodgson is still humming two out of three aint bad when his star striker returns to training at the end of next week, then Liverpool fans can probably rest a little easier.

Newcastle: After signing Sol Campbell, Colin Youngcompares the new Toon signing with Sunderlands newest central defender. Titus or Sol? Who would you prefer? Its a tough choice but you just get the feeling Newcastle fans will be celebrating the ! arrival of their new centre-backs for the start of the new season slightly more than their neighbours from Sunderland. Former Arsenal and Spurs defender Sol Campbell looks set to get his wish and clinch a move to a club in the North East, enabling him to stay in his Northumberland home with his new bride, while also extending his Premier League career by a year or two.

West Ham: One of the main stories in the Daily Mail concerns Scottie Parker. Matt Barlow: West Ham have offered Scott Parker a new contract worth 20million over five years as proof that they intend to build their future around him. Chairman David Sullivan caused a stir last season when he claimed the entire squad would be up for sale apart from Parker, who was an inspirational force as the Hammers escaped relegation at the end of a dismal campaign. The 29-year-olds dynamic midfield form made an impression on England boss Fabio Capello, who selected Parker for his preliminary 30-man World Cup squad, although he was one of the seven who missed the final cut for South Africa.

Transfer gossip: The Sun says Stoke are eyeing Roque Santa Cruz, Blackpool and Bolton are keeping tabs on New York Red Bull striker Macoumba Kandji and West Brom have been knocked back in their bid for Cheick Tiote.

The Daily Mail run with Chelsea have been told to up their bid for David Luiz, Espanyol have targeted Maxi Rodriguez and Marseille and Juventus are after Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Daily Mirror also have their own stories. David James is set for talks with Celtic, Eidur Gudjohnsen is heading to Birmingham or Fulham and Real Sociedad want Liverpool starlet Dani Pacheco.

From foreign sources we learn Raul is close to joining Schalke and Sami Khedira is almost a Real Madrid player.

Premier League previews: The Daily Mail assess how all the teams are shaping up. The Sun fashion team give their thoughts on the new kits for season 2010/2011.

Spain outclass England Under19s: The Sun question Fabio Capellos absence from the semi-final. Fabio Capellosnubbed Noel Blake and his young England heroes yesterday - because he was playing a round in Marbella. Blakes Under-19s did the nation proud despite losing 3-1 to Spain in their European Championship semi-final in Saint-Lo. But, as expected, senior boss Capello did NOT make the short trip to watch them. Instead, while Blakes teenagers were giving their all for England on the football pitch, the Italian was busy living it up in the Spanish resort. The man paid a mega 6million a year to run our national team is there promoting a charity golf event he is hosting this weekend. The Wheres Wally? lookalike has hardly been seen since returning home in shame from Englands World Cup disaster last month.

James Lawton feels Fabio Capello made the right decision by staying away. Fabio Capello has been castigated for his absence at Englands exit from the European Under-19 Championships but how much punishment can a man who has grown up with certain basic football qualities, like controlling and passing the ball in reasonably coherent fashion, take in one long summer of discontent? Maybe at 6m a year Il Capo might have put himself through a little more purgatory as young Spain at times exquisitely exposed once again the technical inadequacies of the English game. But lets get to the real point. Capello was not hired to remodel Englands football and conduct the kind of overhaul of tactics and skill which might best be executed with a hose-pipe. He was employed to deal with the consequences at the national level and if we all know the result in South Africa last month we also know that hounding him as a scapegoat is the worst kind of escapism.

Neil Moxley sums up the encounter in his match report for the Daily Mail. This time, unlike in Bloemfontein, there were no excuses. No furore over the lack of goal-lin! e techno logy, no debates about a winter break and certainly no complaints about a lack of effort. Noel Blakes team had little to reproach themselves for, save giving the ball away carelessly on a couple of occasions . The accusation that they had not done their utmost could certainly not be levelled at these players. What they had to give, they handed over. It just wasnt enough. For, in this small Normandy town, Spain gave hundreds of English holidaymakers a glimpse of the future.

Jon Culley also praises the Spaniards. Technically, the Spanish appeared years ahead of England, who did not play particularly poorly but were still made to look ponderous, even clumsy at times. Spain resembled their senior counterparts, playing with movement and awareness that looked instinctive. Possession was rarely surrendered easily and moves were developed with bewildering speed and innovative skill.

Russia: The consistently excellent Jonathan Wilson casts his eye over the Russian Premier League. A victory for Zenit St Petersburg at home to Rubin Kazan on Saturday would not guarantee them the league title but it would give them a lead of at least nine points with half of the Russian season played. They have been relentless of late, unbeaten since Luciano Spalletti took charge in December their last defeat, in fact, came against FK Moskva on 31 October and Saturdays 3-1 win at Rostov was their eighth in a row in the league. If they have a weakness, and its debatable whether they have, its their lack of a focal point up-front, as Spalletti has employed something approaching the striker-less system he once used at Roma. Alexander Kerzahkov seems to drop deeper and deeper the older he gets although he did score the opener on Saturday while Danko Lazovic is still feeling his way into the side after his move from PSV Eindhoven in March.

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