old link but 65k/ week [url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_city/article5721442.eceaccording to the times[/url

U21 Serbia 1 Sweden 3; Belarus 1 Italy 2

Serbia had 6 booked and 2 sent off.

England to play Sweden and Italy to play Germany in the semis I presume. Sweden are at home, of course.

True it is way OTT but no surprise when compared to some of the wages city will be splashing out.

yeah but for 60,000 a week you got to prove your worth it and sturridge hasnt hes not going to get in their 1st tem so basically hes a money grabber ( good on the lad but bye bye) as for hart he has gone on loan and will come back next year and fight for hes place. Have we sold Onuha, Richards, Evans, Williamson no so how can you say we are selling or youth??

Thought Evans was on his way?

Sturridge was an england shoe in 6 months ago according to city fans. But then you signed Craig Bellamy.

i dont think he will go a year in the reserves for the lad. And i cant remeber that i said he had talent but never said he was england class not yet anyway he has to prove himself and stay fit 1st

But to be fair Given is miles better than Hart.

Correct.

Valencia are desperate for him to take Chelsea's (higher) offer, but he wants to stay in Spain and would rather sign for Madrid - and will do in the end, whether they increase their bid or not.

I'll be having dinner with the Commercial Director of one of Valencia's sponsors tomorrow (he was a student of mine when I taught English), they are also a personal sponsor of the player and he has been involved in contract negotiations with him in the past, I'll try and get any gossip and report it back on here exclusively!

I've heard he's on his way to Barcelona. Jorge Valdano today said '[iWe're not going to fight against a whole autonomous community[/i', Prick.

Last I was told they hadn't matched Madrid's bid, trying to get shot of Eto'o first maybe?

Valencia are definitely trying to play them off and milk it for what they can, which is fair enough - as long as they don't hack both of the potential buyers off because, from what I have been told, it would take hell of a lot to get him to leave Spain.

Yep.

Setanta are fcked, No more Craig Burley.

Hart is not a No1 keeper at this stage in his career. At 22, he's still young. He's a good shotstopper, but isn't great in terms of organising the defence. It was no coincidence that, when Given came in, the defence improved. Trouble is, Hart doesn't want to play understudy (and learn). So he's going to Birmingham for a year on loan.

Sturridge: we wanted to keep him, but see Flipper's comments.

oggy123 has already mentioned Onuha, Richards, Evans, Williamson. In terms of young, home-grown talent, we'll have to see (fingers crossed) whether Michael Johnson can actually return from his long-term injury problems.

The club's owners have said that they'll be investing more in the academy. And from last season's academy, the following are moving into next season's reserve squad: right-back Kieran Trippier, striker Alex Nimely, midfielder Andrew Tutte, midfielder Greg Cunningham, defender Dedryk Boyata, midfielder Abdi Ibrahim, and striker Robbie Mak, joining winger Vladimir Weiss, who made that move last season and then made his first-team debut off the bench in the final match.

Will you ask him to tell Mr Villa that if he moves to United, I'll get my mum to invite him round for her Sunday dinner every week. I can give him a lift back to wherever he's staying on my home after Corrie. If there's a match, on a Sunday afternoon, she'll plate him some up and keep it in the oven for him. If he accepts, I'll make sure she's stocked up on Vienetta for afters. That should change his mind about coming to England.

sounds like a deal clincher

Weiss has always looked a class act for City's reserves. Whenever I've seen that Logan play, he's always looked good as well, bags of pace and seemed far too good for reserve football.

Hart is going out on loan for a year. What's the issue with that? He will be back and will be our future keeper if he is good enough.

I'm glad our club maintained their stance on the Daniel Sturridge situation. It just goes to show that, despite what people think, we aren't just going to fritter money away, willy-nilly, on players that aren't worth it.

City have a strong pedigree of bringing through youngsters and I hope people do not think this is going to change now we have the cash and this one has escaped. The fact is, he tried to hold us to ransome and asked for a salary that is at least double what he is worth and it failed. It seems strange because, at the moment, he has less chance of first team football at Chelsea and I think a move to Villa or West Ham would have been far better for his career.

Sturridge and his advisors thought they could take the p[ii[/iss and expected us to cave into their demands. What they didn't bank on was that the club don't rate him highly enough to do just that. If he was worth it and we thought he was going to be a world beater, I'm sure we'd have fought harder to keep him. It's not as if we couldn't afford it.

In my opinion, he is going to be a good player, a Premier League regular, one day, but I have seen little to suggest that all the hype about him is going to be justified. He seems to think he is the next Thierry Henry but I have a feeling Chelsea are going to be somewhat disappointed. Not as disappointed as if they had signed Ched Evans but still disappointed.

Interestingly, there's a piece on the City website where Jim Cassell, the academy coach, is telling those six that they're all capable of making the grade – but he stresses that they do need to be patient.

City's best young players will probably find it easier to make the grade now that they are not expected to be the saviours of the club.

I remember when Sturridge made his debut, coming on as a substitute. It was like the greeting of the Messiah, a ridiculous reception for a player so young and unproven.

A very good point.

Thinking back, I remember the fuss over players such as David White – and I don't know whether it was, or to what degree, the case that the expectation was part of why he never achieved more.

Any Jaffa cakes? Plus plenty of Pot Noodles for in the week.

Laughing at city buying all these fowards where they need to centre mids and two centre backs. Dunne isn't up to it and i'm not convinced by Rihards. They'll be good again at home but will drop too many points away from home.

Sounds like Real Madrid.

You think City's recruitment is finished?