Man Citys improved standing partly reflects the vulnerability of Arsenal and Chelsea as well as the inconsistency of Spurs Paul Hayward
Quote of the day: Whats his name? Wil ? [referring to Jack Wilshere.] No, I dont know him, but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him. Perhaps I can show him the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I won it Theres only one that is a little stronger than me: Messi. All the others are behind me I am delighted to receive the award, but who should have won it but me? Two years ago I finished sixth and then fourth in 2009. It was finally my turn. Mario Balotelli.
Runner-up: Today, we have 27% [of the shares at Arsenal]; our objective is to bring that up to a blocking stake of 29.9%. And from there, we will just keep looking. You can never tell what happens in life. Alisher Usmanov.
Accusation of the day: What can you do? English clubs are the great white sharks of football. Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea are all in the game. We had a wonderful deal for Nathan, but the lad wanted only one thing: Chelsea. Its game over for us. Ive discussed this matter with Nathan and his parents. He told me that he really wanted to move to England and his parents were OK with his decision. Its obviously bad news for Feyenoord. We cant do anything about it if a foreign club comes up to sign one of our youngsters. The Premier League clubs spoil the market with their behaviour. Other clubs in Europe arent doing this kind of thing, but the English sides just dont care. Leo Beenhakker.
Todays overview: Todays round-up starts with two managers on the continent, as Inter Milan axed Rafa Benitez and Stuart James reports of the troubles facing Steve McClaren at Wolfsburg.
Turning to English matters, Manchester City once again dominate. Paul Hayward and Ian Herbert try to locate the Citizens bigge! st probl ems, while Alan Smith simply homes in on Mario Balotellis bad attitude.
Ownership of Premier League clubs comes to the fore this Wednesday, with reports of takeover bids at Arsenal and Manchester United.
We finish off with a host of transfer stories including how Man City are targetting two top forwards and two top defenders, Aston Villa prepare for a fire-sale, bad-boy BArton is in demand and Arsenal consider shifting Bendtner.
Dominic Fifield set the scene over the sacking. Benitezs unhappy six-month tenure at the European champions, Internazionale, ended tonight when the Spaniards contract at San Siro was terminated, with the parting of the ways set to be formally confirmed in the next 24 hours. The Italian clubs president, Massimo Moratti, is in the process of negotiating the managers payoff with the pairs relationship having fractured beyond repair in recent weeks Morattis pursuit of the former Roma coach Luciano Spalletti appears set to be frustrated That will leave Inter to court the former Rossoneri coach Leonardo.
Neil McLeman takes a typical tabloid approach to the story in the Mirror claiming Benitez simply wasnt the Special One. Benitez has found Jose Mourinho an impossible act to follow at the San Siro since he took over in June. Although former Chelsea boss Mourinho constantly clashed with the Italian media and other coaches, he won the Serie A title twice in two years and completed a historic treble last season. By contrast, Benitez has won only six out of 15 Serie A games to sit in seventh place behind even Palermo and saw his side humiliated by Tottenham in the Champions League.
James Lawton peels back the layers to unde! rstand w hy Inter fired Benitez. Most careers in football tend to erode down the years. They get chipped away by the rigours of maintaining a level of performance, constantly having to reproduce the best and the sharpest of your ability. But in Benitezs case the process could hardly have been faster had it been spliced into a Charlie Chaplin movie. Mostly obviously, he has lost touch with the oldest truth of coaching success: you are nothing without your players. You can lecture them, you can throw a thousand blackboard lessons at them, but none of it is any good if they no long want to play for you.
Yet, before anyone gets too upset for Benitez, Rory Smith details how much the Spaniard has recently received in severance packages. Benitez is likely to be given a golden handshake worth around 6 million a similar figure to that which he received after leaving Liverpool in June while his pay-off is expected to contain a clause forbidding him from managing another club in the next six months Benitezs long-term replacement remains less clear. Moratti is widely thought to harbour hopes of tempting Pep Guardiola.
McClaren In Trouble: Staying on the subject of managers getting the axe, Stuart James takes a large chunk of journalistic license to make the case that Wolfsburg are unhappy with their English coach, but later admitting his job really isnt on the line. It is doubtful Steve McClaren saw the funny side but it was a moment that did credit to the much-maligned German sense of humour. With pressure mounting on the Wolfsburg coach after a poor start to the season, a small section of the clubs supporters put up green and white umbrellas during the 2-2 draw against Hoffenheim on Saturday. It would be a bizarre sight for any other coach but the brolly needs no introduction when it comes to McClaren The majority of Wolfsburgs supporters are pointing the finger of blame at the underachieving players rather than the first Englishman to coach in the Bundesliga.
Ian Herbert argues with Haywards last point, believing Citys biggest problems are financial. While this seasons target is less specific a top-four place the stakes are far greater as City move towards the era of Uefas Financial Fair Play regime which demands that, from 2013, clubs must lose no more than 13m per year or get shut out of European competitions. City lost ten times more than that a total of 133m in the 12 months to 31 May, and privately acknowledge that their 121m wage for that period may hit 150m in next Octobers end-of-year results because the signings of Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Yaya Tour, Aleksandar Kolarov, Mario Balotelli and James Milner have not even been accounted for yet. It means Mubarak and Cook need to increase their revenues at a colossal rate in very short order to bring their losses anywhere near Uefas figure, and failing to achieve Champions League qualification is an outcome they do not want to consider. No pressure then, Mancini.
Changing tracks, Alan Smith has some choice words for Mario Balotelli. Balotelli, in short, needs to calm down because, at the moment, he seems to be playing on the edge with a permanent scowl, ready to explode at the slightest provocati! on. Why? I dont know, but the lad certainly doesnt look happy. Maybe its just the frustration of a stuttering start at a club, dont forget, still in the throes itself of coming to terms with its new-found wealth. Whatever the reasons, this is where Mancini must come in, because the City manager went out on a limb to buy his old player from Inter Milan.
Owning Arsenal: An old chestnut resurfaces this Wednesday as the battle for control at Arsenal becomes a hot topic with Alisher Usmanov making waves.
Matt Scott claims that the Uzbek is set to be disappointed. Alisher Usmanovs hopes of buying enough shares to take his stake in Arsenal to 29.9% look unlikely to be realised and a takeover by the Russian billionaire appears out of the question For months Usmanov has had an open buy notice in the Plus market stock exchange, where Arsenal are listed. It is his activity alone that has in the past 12 months pushed up the price of individual shares by 21.6%. Yet it has taken him two-and-a-half months to buy even 50 shares or 0.08% of the total which underlines just how difficult it is to expand a shareholding in the club.
Amazingly, The Sun managed to use exactly the same facts to fart Glazers Will Sell United. Manchester Uniteds uture has been thrown into doubt after a club bigwig said the Glazers WILL sell up. Old Trafford non-executive director Mike Edelson revealed: Its no secret th! at, at s ome time, the family will sell. And that has now opened the door for the Qatar royal family, headed by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who have targeted United in a 1.5billion deal.
Winning By Default: Matt Scott scribbled Michel Platini will be confirmed as the Uefa president for another three-year term tomorrow if, as expected, no one submits a challenge to his tenure by tonights midnight deadline.
Fire Sale: According to Stuart James it could be all change on the playing staff at Aston Villa in the not too distant future. Gerard Houllier is planning an overhaul of his Aston Villa squad that could see as many as nine players leave the club before the start of next season. Steve Sidwell and Curtis Davies are expected to lead the exodus, although there may also be a few surprising names on the list, including the England international Stephen Warnock Richard Dunne, Stephen Ireland and John Carew, who were all left out of the squad who travelled to Wigan Athletic before Saturdays game was postponed, are expected to move on It is understood that Brad Friedel, who will turn 40 in May, has also been told his contract will not be renewed in the summer.
According to the Guardian, Chelsea are at the centre of another international transfer controversy after luring the highly rated teenager Nathan Ake from the Dutch club Feyenoord Without naming Chelsea specifically, Feyenoords sporting director, Leo Beenhakker, expressed his dismay at how Premier League clubs are, in his view, taking young players from their clubs before their 16th birthdays.
The Transfers: Mixed messages are presented by Andy Hunter as the scribe reports on Man City. Claiming Citys owners have called a halt to the extravagant spending of summer transfer window! s, almos t immediately we learn that Roberto Mancini [can] fine-tune his squad next month Edin Dzeko is a long-standing target and the Wolfsburg striker is likely to be the subject of an offer of around 30m.
The Telegraph build on the story adding Chelsea are going head to head with Manchester City to sign Edin Dzeko and David Luiz in the January transfer window It is understood that while Dzeko appears set to join City Luiz may move to Chelsea if Benfica lower their excessive demands.
The Guardian link 30-year-old Borussia Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller to Villa Park while claiming Villa have no interest in signing Robbie Keane. Staying in the broadsheet its reported that Everton may sell Louis Saha to Bordeaux provided they can attract either Emmanuel Adebayor or Roque Santa Cruz on loan.
In news set to annoy Arsenal fans, the Telegraph say that Blackburn defender Phil Jones was a 10m target until he got injured last weekend. But the Telegraph their (arguably) temper the Gooners announcing Lazio are understood to have made an approach to Arsenal about the possibility of a loan deal for Nicklas Bendtner from January until the end of the season.
The Daily Mail say West Ham and Aston Villa are considering 1.5m bids for Joey Barton, Nicolas Anelka will consider walking out of Chelsea on a lucrative free transfer and joining the exodus to the United States at the end of his contract, Southamptons 10m-rated youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is being eyed by Liverpool, Fulham and Arsenal, while Stoke are close to tying up a 2.6m deal for Jermaine Pennant and are considering a move Edson Buddle.
The Mirror get all excited claiming Edin Dzeko, Hulk, and Dani Alves are all winter targets for Man City, while also saying that Fulham want Stephen Ireland and announcing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is set to loan out Brazilian wonderkid Wellington for TWO YEARS after he was turned down for a work permit.
The Sun report that Chris Samba wants out of Ewood Park, Ever! ton want Utrecht midfielder Michael Silberbauer, Fulham want David Bentley, and Giovani Dos Santos may move to Zaragoza on loan.
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