Eurosport - Sat, 10 Oct 11:53:00 2009
Manchester City could double their own British transfer record with a £65 million swoop for Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery, according to The Sun.
The France international was subject to bids from unnamed clubs in the summer - believed to be Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea - but Bayern held firm and demanded up to £80 million for the former Marseille man.
A year on and his value will have diminished - the Spanish press have claimed he could Webster-Arrest himself for as little as £13m in the summer - but City are keen to price everyone else out of the market.
Such a deal would eclipse the £32.5m the Eastlands club paid for Robinho and would cast doubts over the long-term future of Shaun Wright-Phillips - and even Robinho.
City could be set for another big-money foreign signing with Brazilian striker Diego Tardelli on their hit-list (Daily Mirror).
The Atletico Mineiro striker, 24, was watched by City scout Mike Rigg as he scored in the 2-1 win over Baurepi.
He has two caps for the national team and is currently top-scorer in the national championship with 14 goals.
CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev could move to Manchester United as early as January (Russian press).
Akinfeev is Guus Hiddink's first choice for Russia and has been tracked by Arsenal.
With Edwin van der Sar set to quit in the summer and Ben Foster looking increasingly nervous with the responsibility of being number one at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson could pounce for the £10 million-rated 23-year-old in the winter transfer window.
CSKA would be willing to let him go as the Russian season is over by then and, while they will still be in the Champions League group stages, they have thrice-capped Russia keeper Veniamin Mandrykin as back up, with his loan at FC Rostov expiring in November.
Palermo are being linked with a shock swoop for Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Mirror).
The former Manchester United trainee, 23, notched up 25 goals last season as his side won the Championship.
The Italian club have not been put off by his inability to hit the back of the net in four Premier League appearances, although Wolves are reluctant to sell a player they signed to a new four-year deal in the summer.
A former Palermo striker, Luca Toni, could yet be making his move to England with West Ham snooping around the out-of-favour Bayern Munich man.
But Gianfranco Zola could face a fight from one of his former clubs, with Napoli lining up a swoop for the former Fiorentina forward.
"Napoli are a big club with great fans," Toni said. "Their president has ambitious plans".
Comment 60 - 79 of 79
65!you are rite mark huge is confuss!!they want everybody and aybody is it bcuz of money flowin in d club is he goin to play them al wat 4mation is he goin 2 play?!
Come off it, feedthephil! Surely you're not suggesting that there are any United supporters who actually live in Manchester, are you?
Paul t- the stadium has not been bought because it is far cheaper to rent it from the council than to buy it and these people are business men. All the United council tax players paid toward it so thanks.
Paul T, does that red mist that you see the world through addle your brain as well? You're not making much sense when you type, that's for sure.
Shel city are in debt aswell like every other club so shut ya face, your owner may be rich but tell me why he hasnt bought your council stadium lmfao cause hes waiting for utd to be sold to them firstly
flyingvic man utd are within there means by buying or selling players since years and years ago unlike city, they will never get him because he turned down utd so would he go to a @#$% club like city nooooooooo because they cannot fill out there stadium each week and weekend
welcome to manchester go get him city .
Hi Vegas - and the name of the first English club to win both a domestic and a european trophy in the same season was...?
WELCOME TO ALL YOU GORTON FC FANS , WHERE 'AV YOU ALL BEEN FOR THE PAST 20/30YRS ?
I KNOW MOST OF YOU SUPPORT STOCKPORT COUNTY,BUT ITS A BIT UNFAIR TO DROP THEM NOW THE ARAB AS SPENT A BIT OF MONEY AT THE COUNCIL HOUSE !
COME ON LADS KEEP SUPPORTIN' COUNTY AS WELL !
I DON'T BLAME THE ARAB FOR WANTIN' TO DROP "MANCHESTER " OFF YOUR NAME , SO YOUR JUST KNOWN AS CITY,COS NOBODYS HEARD OF YOU IN EUROPE AND DEF NOT WORLDWIDE ! SO YOU COULD PRETEND YOU ARE A "NEW " CLUB !
ANYWAY GOOD LUCK THIS SEASON I HOPE ALL YOUR " NEW " FANS STAY WITH YOU WHEN YOU DON'T WIN ANYTHIN' AGAIN THIS YEAR !
REMEMBER STOCKPORT COUNTY WILL STILL BE THERE FOR YOU IF THINGS DON'T GO TO PLAN,AND I'VE CHECKED AT THE CLUB SHOP, THEY WILL REFUND THAT RECORD NUMBER OF TEVEZ SHIRTS YOU HAVE ALL BOUGHT THIS YEAR !
SADLY THOUGH YOU WILL ALWAYS BE IN THE MASSIVE DARK SHADOW OF YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS NEIGHBOURS.....................MANCHESTER UNITED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is HILARIOUS reading the tripe posted by the likes of vegas mufc and the other rags.
That clock is ticking ever so loud, isn't it?
You keep coming on every article to do with CITY and keep up your BITTER OBSESSIONS, little ragamuffins.
It is NOT going to stop CITY marching on.
Tick Tock.
And so many posters on here commenting on the looks of players rather than their ability to play football. Are you all poofs that you demand that your footballers have to be good-looking?
If clubs were ever made to live within their earnings it would surely be the end of MU as we know them: by the time they've paid the annual interest payments on their debt and paid their staff they're not going to be able to buy many multi-million pound players, are they? They'll have to stick to poaching French schoolboys.
Ribery would rather stop play football than to move to Mange City
to vegas mufc you my be trophy laden but you are also DEBT LADEN and IF you know your history remembet it was city who helped you out in the past on more then one occasion
jesu christ how many forwards does 1 team need they already have tevz ,adibior, bellamy, santa cruz robinho, ireland and wright phillips y do they even think they need more
RIBERY WON'T 'AV EVEN HEARD OF MAN CITY !
get ready for a sulking Tevez on your bench
Will Ribery join M.City in January?
No(thumbs up)
Yes(thumbs down)
Anyway, getting back to FOOTBALL, England were $hit in that first half, and WHY Capello took Lennon off instead of Heskey I'll never know! Penalty against you and you take off your flair player? WHY? ... Now England have 10 men,... two strikers, and no supply,... great thinkong!
Shel (65) I have just come back from watching UK v. ykw, (1-0 to UK, and should be 2-0) and I am totally stunned with your logic! Whatever made you think I am a MU supporter? I am a SPURS supporter! Your answer is typical of the small minds Mancunians have! SORRY, but that can be my only conclusion! I never, ever, said I was a MU supporter!
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