A great rumour to kick-off the Paper Round today and it's that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been identified by Manchester City as their first choice to replace the soon to be sacked Mark Hughes.
Although Wenger has been one of the most vocal critics of City's swaggering around the transfer market and the club's new ethos seems to go against the Frenchman's policy of developing young talent, the Daily Mirror report he is top of City's hit list.
"The people who own City have a big respect for Arsene and what he has done at Arsenal," a well-placed source told the newspaper. "They do have the same respect for Jose Mourinho and have indicated that [Slaven] Bilic would be another option but Arsene is the man they want."
The Daily Telegraph were impressed enough to run the story but not so confident in the strength of the content to claim it as their own and made sure the Mirror was named as the source of the rumour.
On the player front, The Sun report that City are set to make a spectacular £100million summer move for Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
Having failed with a similar bid for AC Milan's Kaka in January City owner Sulaiman Al Fahim is desperate to spend some of his pocket-change on one of football's biggest stars.
Al Fahim, who apparently love Argentinian football, said: "I've never worked with Maradona and I am not sure if he will be a good coach for Argentina. But I want to work with Messi soon, because he makes me love Argentina again."
In other news, Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Taylor had to be pulled apart by team-mates after an extraordinary half-time bust-up in the tunnel during Manchester United's 2-1 win at Newcastle United, according to Daily Mail.
"Extraordinary" might be stretching it a bit as the pair simply traded playground insults. After receiving a forearm smash from Taylor in the first-half of the match Ronaldo waited for the defender in the tunnel and called him a "rubbish footballer". Taylor, it was said, responded by calling last season's Footballer of the Year "ugly".
The pair apparently continued to trade insults until referee Steve Bennett and United captain Rio Ferdinand intervened.
Meanwhile, the other Ronaldo was involved in a real tussle, according to The Guardian. Following the Brazilian's debut for Corinthians, his first competitive match in just over a year, the 32-year-old emerged from a media scrum with a black-eye after being hit in the face by a microphone.
The Daily Express report that Tottenham Hotpsur manager Harry Redknapp is touting Aaron Lennon for an international recall after England coach Fabio Capello watched him score twice as Spurs beat Middlesbrough 4-0.
"He must have a good chance of getting in the next squad if he plays like he is in the moment," Redknapp said. "The little fella is flying at the moment."
Comments
Posted by Berfie on 03/06/2009
Arsene Wenger moving? In my opinion, it's unlikely, given he's still has the backing from the board.
Man City on their spending spree is quite a circus, getting all the focus while entertaining the papers, but unlikely to get any end results until some real end results. Try getting Mourinho first, you'll likely get the other "jewels", though Hughes has work in-progress. IF he's still with City, they'll definitely see a more consistent team, instead of the 'suspense' we're seeing one now.
Ronaldo and Taylor having playground insults? Seems probaby Ronaldo still feeling sore that some players can get physically better than him, or maybe he's courting suitors for the "End-of-Season" sale. Taylor is helping to remind him that he's playing in English League, not the Spanish, Italian or French league for example. Getting tips from the older Ronaldo will likely do some help.
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