"Man City now see signing Van Persie as a badge of honour"

LAPTV

03Aug

“Man City now see signing Van Persie as a badge of honour”

Despite being the early frontrunners to sign Arsenal goal machine Robin van Persie, Manchester City now face stiff competition from both Manchester United and Juventus in the race to secure the Dutchman. But as the Life’s a Pitch team explains, Man City will be determined not to lose out in the race to sign Van Persie to their neighbours, while rumours of interest in Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuaín are most likely City “trying to force Van Persie’s hand”.

“That is probably City doing two things,” says journalist and author Ian Ridley of the Higuaín links. “One, showing their fans that they’ve got an alternative [to Van Persie]. And also trying to force Van Persie and his agent’s hand a bit. I think they see this now as a badge of honour to sign Van Persie, [rather than] lose him to United. It won’t be so bad losing him to Juventus, but [securing Van Persie] would be a great statement for United to make and City wouldn’t like that and I don’t think the City owners would like that.”

Man City’s inability to close the Van Persie deal has left boss Roberto Mancini frustrated, particularly as football administration officer Brian Marwood is responsible for transfers, not him. The People’s Dave Kidd believes Mancini should be in charge of his transfers. He explains: “I think Mancini might have a point to be honest. I think the most successful clubs are still run by strong managers in this country. That is the kind of template that works. I think a manager needs to have control over his own transfer policy.”

One transfer that would make life easier for Mancini would be the sale of Carlos Tévez, says the Guardian’s Dominic Fifield. ”You could certainly argue they need a clean break on that front, they’ve been unofficially trying to offload him for over a year now and he’s still on the books. Some interesting comments from his compatriot Pablo Zabaleta suggested that Carlos has changed and has learned from everything that happened last year and will come back a different person in the new season… and 24 hours later Mancini is quoted saying you can’t change Carlos Tévez.”

Watch the full video discussion by clicking on the play button in the image above.

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Follow Life’s A Pitch on Twitter @BTLifesaPitch

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hateman$ity

what a joke. more financial doping from a squad with an argentinian sitting on the bench making 225 a week. makes me sick
Silva’s Left Foot

You sound very OBSESSED. Even your user name says it all, I’d worry more about your fantasic owners and THEIR money!
Ron

what business sense is that still paying Ade 110 grand to play for spurs? if your owner leaves will be another Rangers.. cant wait to see that happening.
Anonymous

Ha Ha Ha …. deal with it ;p
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_43IFA4KJ2AWLJPOMHPX45LW7EY JackBlue

Got some news for you pal. The only badge of honour that City are interested in is gold and on the arms of their shirts. Idiotic site.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dom-MJ-Mangles/506522921 Dom MJ Mangles

Man City wont win a thing next season, just you watch.

Title : Arsenal
Fa Cup: Chelsea
League Cup: Man Utd
Leetemps123

U will be bankrupt soon wen the Arabs fuckoff u have won fuckall till u bought title wanker
http://www.facebook.com/mortenfriis Morten Friis

Title: Arsenal

Hahaha – you crack me up. Arsenal won’t even make it into ChL next season. Chelsea look strong though, and I’ll never rule out United. It’s definitely going to be tough for City to defend the title, but Arsenal won’t be a contender. Not by a long shot.
http://www.facebook.com/mortenfriis Morten Friis

Well, Uniteds squad is almost as expensive as Citys, and they also have plenty players sitting on the bench, simply collecting their pay. At least Tevez was an instrumental player in City picking up the title (contributing both goals and assists after returning to the squad) – where were Berbatov?
Anonymous

It seems all anyone can say is roughly , when the Arabs do one. Lets look at facts…they are unbelievably wealthy…no doubt there. How do they keep their wealth? By being business like. They would hardly spend ( you fill in the figures …if you can ) and just ” do one”. D’uhhh !! Just keep hoping .
Anonymous

Better business sense than giving him away. We bought a ‘bad-un’, absolutely no doubt , but then again who hasn’t ? I didn’t ever think Adebayor was a bad player , BUT he plays for himself or his own reasons. He’s ‘showing’ now for Spurs as he wants to get away. He’s probably getting his full pay (with City paying bulk) but knowing if fit he will always play. That was never the case at City as we had/have better players
But Mancini like Ferguson doesn’t allow sentiment to get in the way.He has bought many players that haven’t found their feet at United…it happens ! Mr Ferguson also grounds/benches those who get out of line, if not get them out of club.
As for City being another Rangers??? Ha ha ha you keep clutching straws.
Jordan

Hahaha no
Feed the Goat

Another clown who thought football was only invented by Sky in the early 9’0s.
We bought the title…..LOL
Just the same as the spendthrift rags-red dippers-chelski and arsenal down the years.
We played the best football-scored the most goals and conceded the least.
As for the owners they have just invested £60 million in a development of Academy and Training facilities.In for the short term, well cling on to that hope but it will not happen, they are here for the long term,
Their intention is to develop the football club into a world wide brand.
Hope that it will not be to traumatic down the years to come for you.
As for RVP we do not care or need him if Tevez stays.Worth a punt at £10 million, we have that in spare change down the back seats of the owners furniture
Bill Glas

Jealousy is a terrible thing.
R Aghayter

wow you lot are so bitter you bitters

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