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With the shoe now on the other foot are Manchester City set to struggle with some very public tapping-up?

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Earlier this week Roberto Mancini has discovered what it feels like to have his players publicly tapped up to provoke unrest. Diego Maradona spoke to Spanish journalists and, as reported in the Daily Telegraph, said Aguero “has to play for Real Madrid. Even though he is flying at City, the best thing would have been to sign for Madrid. He made a mistake. Now, as he is doing so well, it will be difficult to get him from City.”

Strong words coming from Aguero’s father in law, who may have significant influence on the player’s future during the summer.

Though Manchester City have been at the summit for the majority of the season, it hasn’t exactly been plain sailing for Mancini. He has had to content with a rogue Carlos Tevez, a mischievous Mario Balotelli and a winging Edin Dzeko all season long. Meanwhile, Aguero has had his head down and let his football do all the talking. Something the Italian manager would have been extremely grateful for.

Man City purchased Aguero for the measly price of £35 million in July, and have not regretted it since.

In the Argentinian’s first 41 appearances he has scored 24 goals and provided eight assists in all competitions. He is a diminutive player whose cleverness yields a high strike rate.

Perhaps one of City’s most valuable purchases to date, he has now become the subject of transfer speculation to go back to the Spanish capital to play for Real Madrid. Mancini and the Abu Dhabi hierarchy would not have been best pleased with Maradona’s comments which sparked this.

For so long, they have been the ones striking fear into managers across Europe with their financial clout. It is only a matter of time before one or all of Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi or Marek Hamsik is lured from Napoli to the blue half of Manchester. Not only would Napoli not be able to resist the huge transfer fees given, but they would not be able to stop their players head get turned by the astronomical wages being offered.

Mancini has often spoken of his admiration for Robin van Persie and said he would be interested in signing him. Van Persie was intensely speculated, over a month ago, to be expecting an offer of wages in the region of £200,000 a-week by City, if Arsenal failed to secure a new contract for him, putting pressure on Wenger and the Arsenal board to cough up bigger wages.

Manchester City and Arsenal don’t have a very good working relationship when it comes to transfers after Emanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri were all prised away from Wenger’s hands. The Frenchman has spoke of his frustration at seeing so many of his star players leave for more money, and shows Arsenal’s deficiencies in the current financial climate in football.

As you would imagine therefore, there won’t have been a single manager in the country that sympathised with Mancini when Real Madrid started taking an interest in Aguero. Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted as saying about Madrid, when dealing with Cristiano Ronaldo, that he “wouldn’t sell a virus to that mob.”

Tough times are ahead for Mancini though. Balotelli, Dzeko and Tevez could all be sold whilst fighting to keep hold of their prized asset Aguero. Stability has always been an issue for City, which looks set to continue.

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  • Hatchet man says:

    What a load of tosh, wanting him is one thing being able to afford him is another. Leave reporting to the big boys you suck

  • Joe Heywood says:

    Thanks for the comment. I’ll try and improve. If your the same Hatchet man who wrote those mediocre articles for the Daily Mail a few years ago, I’d say you’d need to think about who you are calling the ‘big boys’, since you have now resorted to making damning comments on young journalist hopefuls articles. Just saying.

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