Barcelona Tracking Manchester City Striker Robinho

Manchester City striker Robinho has found himself in a tough position this summer following a satisfactory performance with Brazil national team at the World Cup. The 26-year-old is still in the dark about his imminent club future with the City manager showing no sign of including the Brazilian in his 25-men Premier League squad.

Robinho had a successful loan stint at Santos last season, but City did not extend the loan deal putting Robinho’s club future into jeopardy. He wanted to stay at Santos for another season.

City already has a number of strikers including Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tévez, Roque Santa Cruz and new signing Mario Balotelli in its squad and it seems less likely that Mancini would include Robinho in his Premier League squad.

Now, Spanish champion Barcelona is reportedly tracking Robinho, even though the club officials dismissed the reports suggesting a swap deal with City involving Robinho and Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic, who joined Barcelona from Inter Milan last summer, had a poor debut season in La Liga and has reportedly been out of favor of manager Pep Guardiola. Moreover, a number of clubs including Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus are interested in the Sweden international.

Reports out in the media suggest that Barcelona started considering Robinho as a possible replacement of Ibrahimovic whose future at Barcelona looks bleak. However, it is not yet confirmed if Guardiola would like to have someone like Robinho who failed to live up to the expectation at Real Madrid and Manchester City.

James Milner Close to Joining Manchester City for £24m

Aston Villa midfielder James Milner is now on the verge of signing for Manchester City for a transfer fee of £24 million. City and Villa have reportedly come to an agreement, by which Villa would pay £16 million in cash and City midfielder Stephen Ireland, valued at £8 million, would move to the opposite direction.

England international James Milner has been a target of City manager Roberto Mancini throughout the summer. However, the asking price of Villa and the pay-off demand of Ireland delayed the deal.

James Milner was instrumental behind Villa’s top six finish in the Premier League last season. The 24-year-old can play at various positions in the midfield. City manager is delighted to have the box-to-box midfielder in his squad and has said that the deal would be completed in a day or two.

It is believed that James Milner would be City’s last big-money signing this summer. They have already spent around £100 million to land the players like Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Yaya Youre, Aleksandar Kolarov and Mario Balotelli. Milner’s signing would take their total summer spending to over £120 million.

Meanwhile, Craig Bellamy, another out-of-favor City player, has surprisingly joined his home-town club Cardiff City with the hopes of helping the club achieve a promotion to Premier League this season.

James Milner joined Aston Villa in 2008 and has been a central figure at the club over the last two years. He played his last match for Villa last Saturday when he scored a goal in his side’s 3-0 win over West Ham United.

Manchester City Gets off to Winning Start in Summer Tour of USA

Manchester City defeated Portland Timbers 3-0 in their first pre-season match in the United States. Stephen Ireland, Emmanuel Adebayor and Jo scored one each for City to seal an easy victory. Manchester City was 2-0 ahead at the half time.

City showed complete dominance throughout the match against a team that is going to take part in the Major League Soccer (MLS) from 2011. City was always in control of the game and did no give any room to the Portland side.

Alike last summer, Manchester City has been in spending spree this summer too and has already spent more than £60 million to sign the players like Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng and David Silva.

Moreover, City is still in the race of adding few more star faces this summer. They are currently tracking Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli and Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko. England midfielder James Milner is also in their transfer list.

Overall, it is pretty much understandable that City’s spending could be highest among the European clubs this summer. So, City could be a stronger force this season and would challenge the big clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United in the race of Premier League.

Manchester City would face Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon in their next pre-season friendly match in New York on 23 July.

Edin Dzeko: Manchester City is the Next Destination?

Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko has recently asked his club to lower their asking price of £50 million and revealed his ambition of playing for a big club. The Bosnian has been one of the prime summer targets of Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini.

Italian club Juventus is also in the race. Even ‘Old Lady of Turin’ is also interested to offer Brazilian Diego or Mohammed Sissoko in a part-swap part-cash deal for Edin Dzeko.

Manchester City is also reportedly ready to involve their under-performed Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz in a part-exchange part-cash deal to secure the service of Edin Dzeko.

Edin Dzeko was the highest scorer of Bundesliga last season scoring 22 goals. The 24-year-old has scored 56 goals in 94 league appearances for Wolfsburg since joining the club from Teplice in 2007. Over the last 3 years, he has grown into a world class striker and it is pretty much natural that he now wants to play for a big club.

City manager Mancini is also tracking Inter Milan’s 19-year-old striker Mario Balotelli in his attempt to play both Dzeko and Balotelli together up front next season. Manchester City last season signed three star strikers including Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Santa Cruz by spending more than £60 million.

Though Edin Dzeko has already made himself clear by revealing his interest to move away from Wolfsburg this summer, his German club would like to make some quick cash in using his current demand in the market.

Overall, it seems Manchester City would be the striker’s next destination, considering the Premier League outfit’s high spending ability.

Manchester City Roberto Mancini in place of Coach Mark Hughes

18 months is not perhaps a long time for any football coach but the super rich owner of Manchester City felt that it was more than enough and he decided to appoint Roberto Mancini. Well, I am against of spending quick cash in football. Yes, it is true that at the beginning of the season, Mark Hughes spent a lot of club money to buy some new players. However, you have to give him some time to ensure that the players can play as a team. It is not easy because most of the first eleven players are new. So, they need some time to form a unit.

I am sure that Mark Hughes will not have any problem to find a new job. I wonder how much time Roberto Mancini will have before he has to exit. Frankly, with the current squad, I am not hopeful of Manchester City finishing in the top 4 of league table this season.

I am a big Arsenal supporter and I am really happy that Arsenal board and supporters remained patient with Arsene Wenger for the last 5 years. 

Swine Flu Appears as a Threat at Manchester City

English premier league club Manchester City is now facing a big threat as Swine Flu struck at the club. At least two players: striker Craig Bellamy and Vladimir Weiss- have reportedly been diagnosed with the swine flu virus. A number of staff members of the club are seeing the same symptoms. So, there is a sense of fear at the club at this moment and players, club staffs and others associated with the club have become very careful. Anyone suspected with the symptoms is sent home by the doctors.

Players with coughs, sniffles and other symptoms are sent to doctors to see the extent of his illness and it is the doctor who decides if the player should be sent home for treatment. No doubt, it is a very bad condition at the Eastlands at this moment. The same condition prevails at another premier league club Bolton Wanderers. There is also a possibility that the virus could spread at other clubs too through the players.

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Manchester City vs Arsenal 12 September 2009: Who Will Win?

Well, even in last season, this fixture was not a big deal. However, this time, it has become the center of attraction for many fans in England and in different corners of earth. This time, Manchester City is supposed to take the place of Arsenal in the top four in English football- this is the goal of City fans and club owner and management. However, Arsene Wenger is adamant that his young players would not give an inch to Manchester City. So, this is going to be a big match for both the clubs and for the Premier League this season.

Manchester City has played 3 matches so far in the league and won all of them and is now 4th in the point table. The other 3 clubs ahead of them have played one more match. So, City is in great shape at the start of the season and a win against the Gunners would give them a lot of boost that they can become one of the top four this season. The main significance of being in the top four is that you get to play in EUFA Champions League Next season. City has a rich owner now with lots of money and they have spent lavishly to buy quality players.

On the other hand, the story is quite opposite for Arsenal. They have to work on a tight budget as they are paying back the debt of their new stadium building project. In fact, Arsenal sold two valuable players to Manchester City. The fans are very impatient now. They have waited long enough and they want to see some success without any delay. It will be a big insult for them if they lose the match against City.

I think that Arsenal will win this match against Manchester City on 12 September 2009. I think this way because this season, they have been very impressive in all the matches. They lost to Man United at Old Trafford a few days ago but even in that match they were very impressive. I think that two important players will be back in action in the match against city: Cese Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky. These two players will surely boost the midfield of the Gunners and Arsene Wenger will be very happy to have them back.

Manchester City supporters will surely want Adebayor to do some magic. City spent a fortune to Adebayor from Arsenal this Summer transfer window. He is in good shape. Bad news for City is that their Argentine player Tevez is injured and this will be a big blow for them. Tevez adds a lot of creativity in the attack.

To be honest with you, although Manchester City has won all the matches this season so far, they did not look very convincing to me. I mean that they did not win any of the matches decisively. In 3 matches, they have goal difference of +4 while Arsenal has +7 in same number of matches. And football is a sports of goals. That is why, I think that Arsenal will win the match.