Manchester City to launch 70m bid for Liverpool striker Fernando Torres

Comment & analysis round-up

Quote of the day: Torres is one of the best strikers in Europe and is already playing in the Premier League for three years and knows it very well. But it depends on his situation, his price and if he wants to come. There are two or three strikers we could go for. The choices we have are fantastic players. - Roberto Mancini.

Runner-up: I played on grass, on the street, everywhere. I played without trainers, thats why I have one toe broken. I tried to shoot - bang! I was 14 or so. So funny. Id put the best players against me and the weaker ones with me so I could play alone. I passed to no one. Nani.

Second Roberto Mancini quote of the day: Are they scared? I think so. At the moment only Manchester City are buying players. But that is normal because Manchester City want to improve and the other teams are just big teams who would like a lot of people. All the other teams are trying to put pressure on us because for 10 years there were only four teams challenging for the title. This year, there are five. I think all these teams over the years have spent a lot of money. Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool but now City do. There isnt a difference We have a big opportunity to win the league if we believe in ourselves and do our jobs. We have improved as a team. It depends if we can put together a team in the short time available. In my experience, I know after the World Cup in every country there can be a different situation in the league. If you remember a few years ago Manchester City were in the Championship, then it is clear every year we must improve. Last year, we fought for fourth place until the penultimate game against Tottenham - the aim this year is to try to win the Premier League. That must be our target. Football is strange,! especia lly after a World Cup. I wait to make that judgment until the market has closed and the Premier League has started. We have improved with new players and have done some good work in the last two weeks. It depends but my feelings are good.

Maybe England arent so bad: I have had a bellyful in the last few weeks of people saying young English footballers arent good enough and cant play football the right way. We have got some good young players in our country. We know were lacking in depth, theres no question about that, but I dont think we praise our own players enough. As a nation, were very good at telling people what they are no good at and what they cant do. Sometimes we need to highlight what we are good at and what we can do. Because if you keep telling people they cant do something, they end up believing it and, no matter who they are, their confidence will drop. Thats just human nature. The more you tell people what they are good at and be honest with them they will start to believe it. Im not saying my players are the finished articles. They all need to improve and we know that. But we have got some decent players and its time people acknowledged that. Noel Blake, England Under-19s coach.

Todays overview: Its a quiet day in the football world with most of the papers concentrating on a host of summer sports. The main story comes via Roberto Mancinis quotes on Fernando Torres with Manchester City now tipped to make a mega offer for El Nino.

City dominate this morning with articles on Robinho, Aleksandar Kolarov and Stephen Ireland who seems set for an exit from Eastlands. Showdown talks are also predicted between Martin ONeill and James Milner and Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas.

Jose Mourinho will also reportedly step up his bid for Ashley Cole and the rest of the transfer gossip includes stories about David Ngo! gs wages and Darius Vassell going to Southampton.

Illustrating the lack of news around, both Martin Kelner and Jonathan Liew take great delight in rubbishing Sky Sports News.

Fernando Torres to Manchester City: The lead in The Sun picks up on Roberto Mancinis comments (see quote of the day) with Martin Blackburn reporting Roberto Mancini is ready to move for Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. The Manchester City boss will battle it out with Chelsea for the 50million-rated star. The Italian has been encouraged by Kop boss Roy Hodgson revealing Spanish World Cup winner Torres has a beef with the Anfield club Other frontmen Mancini fancies include Wolfsburgs Bosnian ace Edin Dzeko and 19-year-old Mario Balotelli of Inter Milan.

Andy Hunter adds Torress future at Anfield remains shrouded in uncertainty with Christian Purslow, the clubs managing director, holding extensive talks with the 26-year-old striker and the manager, Roy Hodgson, but conceding he can do no more to convince the striker to stay. Chelsea and Barcelona have been linked with the former Atltico Madrid captain but may struggle to meet Liverpools 70m valuation. Citys hopes of signing Torres were believed to have ended when they failed to qualify for the Champions League last season but Mancini, who is also interested in Mario Balotelli of Internazionale and Wolfsburgs Edin Dzeko, insists the prospect of Torres making a sensational switch from Anfield to Eastlands is not over and is willing to better the 32.5m record fee City spent to sign Robinho from Real Madrid.

Rory Smith chimes in with Money is never far from the conversation where City are concerned. It is money, and the lavish deployment of it, that has come to define the club, that has dominated the thoughts of fans and observers alike this summer, to the extent that Mancinis head lolls when he is asked in press conferences not about tactics ! or techn iques but transfers. Always transfers. Only transfers. To Mancini, though, the personnel he acquires in the next five weeks is immaterial. As he says, whether it is Torres or Dzeko, Milner or Mikel Arteta, who arrives to bolster his squad, all of the players City are attempting to procure are of the utmost quality. To Mancini, what matters is not who he works with, but what work is done. It is on the training pitch, not the negotiating table, that he will make this his side.

Also on Manchester City: Ian Ladyman reveals why Robinho was shown the door by Roberto Mancini. Perhaps one of the key moments of Roberto Mancinis short time at Manchester City came as early as last January when he made the decision to let Brazilian star Robinho leave the club on loan. Robinho caused Mancinis predecessor Mark Hughes constant problems with his reluctant attitude to training and his tendency to play poorly away from home. But, whereas Hughes seemed determined to win what became a battle of wills with the former Real Madrid player, Mancini recognised very quickly that it would be better if Robinho played his football elsewhere.

Nick Pisa profiles incoming Manchester City left back Aleksandar Kolarov. Manchester Citys 17million new signing Aleksandar Kolarov has a reputation for his thunderous shots - just ask an Italian referee and his former Lazio team-mates. Referee Massimiliano Saccani was knocked out for several minutes in February 2009 by one of the players strikes during a match against Torino. Nine months later it was the turn of Ezequiel Lavazzi of Napoli, who also suffered the same fate. During a Lazio training session, Kolarov managed to break three fingers of team-mate Sebastiano Siviglia after unleashing another power drive. Because of his powerful strike, his nickname at Lazio was Roberto Carlos.

Also on City, Stephen Irelands future is looking increasingly bleak. Martin Blackburn writesStephen Irelands future at Manchester City is hanging by a thread after he was told he ! may not make their 25-man squad for the season ahead. Ireland, 23, has not impressed boss Roberto Mancini with his attitude in pre-season. And with a raft of midfielders arriving at Eastlands this summer, the Irishman has been told he may as well find a new club - unless he can buck his ideas up.

Alan Nixon ratchets up the Mancini-Ireland dispute. Stephen Ireland is on his way out of Manchester City after a bust-up with boss Roberto Mancini on the clubs trip to New York. Midfield maestro Ireland clashed with the Italian after the defeat by Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon - and he now looks like being the big loser in the fall-out. Mancini is not happy with Irelands form and told the former Republic of Ireland star that he could even be completely left out of Citys Premier League squad this season. News of Irelands row has already come back to these shores - and interested clubs are now looking to make their move and get the player dubbed Superman by the fans.

James Milner showdown talks: Graham Hill in The Sun: Aston Villaboss Martin ONeill is set for crunch talks with James Milner today when the England midfielder returns for pre-season training. But the club have made it clear no deals will be done behind ONeills back following fears that Ashley Young could be the next big name to depart. Milner is unhappy at ONeill claiming the player said he wanted to leave in May when Manchester City had a 20million bid rejected. The ex-Newcastle and Leeds ace has been on an extended break after the World Cup but is due to report back today for talks with ONeill. Villa maintain Milner wants to go and are waiting for a second bid from City, who are preparing a 24m offer. But that may not be enough to meet ONeills valuation.

Cesc Fabregas showdown talks: The story boring the pants off everybody continues. The Sun report Cesc Fabregaswill have a make-or-break meeting with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger this week to finally decide his future. Details of a 7million a year deal to l! ure him to Barcelona broke in Spain over the weekend. And a family source insisted: Cesc desires to know the real situation about his future and not suffer uncertainty. A Nou Camp spokesman said: We wait calmly to see what happens. This week will be the key. If Wenger is unable to persuade the 23-year-old to stay, Arsenal will want close to 50m for their skipper. Barca have already had a 29m bid rejected.

Ashley Cole to Real Madrid: Geoff Sweet reveals in The Sun Jose Mourinhowill today tell Real Madrid chiefs: Get me Ashley Cole. But Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti aims to charm Cole into staying when he starts pre-season training today. The 20million tug-of-war for the left-back will depend almost entirely on Coles mood following revelations over his private life and split from wife Cheryl. Real boss and ex-Chelsea manager Mourinho wants to offer the England star, 29, a way out. And he has told Jorge Valdano, general manager at the Bernabeu, to tempt the Blues with a straight cash offer OR a player exchange deal involving Real midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.

Simon Cass adds Chelseas other England World Cup players, John Terry and Frank Lampard, were granted bumper new contracts when speculation about their futures increased in previous summers. It remains to be seen whether owner Roman Aabramovich will try to quash speculation about a move to Madrid for with another pay bonanza.

Other transfer gossip: The Daily Mirror inform us that Liverpool cant sell David Ngog because of his wage demands, Blackpool want to bring in Danny Welbeck, Newcastle will make a loan move for Hatem Ben Arfa and Southampton are after former England striker Darius Vassell. The Independent link Spurs with a move for Everton defender Phil Jagielka.

Summer TV: Martin Kelner casts his eye over Sky Sports News during the build-up weeks to the new season. With most of the big free-to-air sport World Cup, Wimbledon, the Open finished, we now enter a kind of pending period before football starts again, a twoweek hiatus that enthusiasts and terminal nostalgists like to call the cricket season. Not that this is of any interest to Sky Sports News, whose football fixation knows no bounds and pays little heed to the seasons. Among the top headlines on its Afternoon Report on Saturday was: Weve an update on Didier Drogbas groin strain, which, as a TV come-on, is only slightly more alluring than And now another chance to see a classic episode of Only Fools and Horses. While I am as interested in Didier Drogbas groin as the next person provided the next person is someone with absolutely no interest in Didier Drogbas groin I rather thought groin strain stories had been laughed off the air by the early Alan Partridge outings, where Steve Coogans creation played a sports reporter obsessed with the subject.

Jonathan Liew in the Daily Telegraph also writes of SSN. And have you ever tried watching Sky Sports News when nothings happening? Its like staring death in the face. At the very least, its like being in the worlds most graphics-heavy nursing home, populated exclusively by people with very little grip on reality muttering to themselves: an entire 24-hour news channel consommd down to a suburb of Darren Fletchers soul. Fletcher, for some unfathomable reason, features a great deal, as do Terry Butcher and Viv Anderson. In fact, its pretty much those three characters on rotation, a circular procession of terrifying holding midfielders. Id wager that if you watched Sky Sports News for an entire year, youd know more about the lines on Terry Butchers face than you would about, say, tennis.

The week ahead: Sandy Macaskill sums up a wide range of football matches taking place this! week.
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