Man City to outbid Chelsea, Man Utd for Di Maria
Manchester City are ready to trump Chelsea and Manchester United for Benfica star Angel di Maria.
The Sunday Times says City have opened talks with Benfica over the availability of the Portuguese club’s much-coveted winger Angel di Maria. The left-sided Argentine international is seen as a direct replacement for Robinho, who has been assiduously courted by Barcelona and is eager to return to Spanish football whenever City approve a transfer.
Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira met City officials in Liverpool on Thursday before his club’s Europa League victory over Everton. Though Benfica will resist selling Di Maria during a season in which they hold a realistic chance of regaining the Portuguese title for the first time in five years, they will encourage suitors in the summer.
Di Maria, whose transfer rights are 20% owned by a third-party investment fund, is valued by the club at more than £27m. At 21, the player has established himself in Argentina’s World Cup squad, having scored an audacious winning goal in the final of the 2008 Olympic tournament.
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Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat Feb 11th | |||
| Manchester United | Liverpool | 2 - 1 | 12:45 |
| Everton | Chelsea | 2 - 0 | 15:00 |
| Swansea City | Norwich City | 2 - 3 | 15:00 |
| Aston Villa | Manchester City | - | 15:00 |
| Fulham | Stoke City | 2 - 1 | 15:00 |
| Blackburn Rovers | Queens Park Rangers | 3 - 2 | 15:00 |
| Bolton Wanderers | Wigan Athletic | 1 - 2 | 15:00 |
| Sunderland | Arsenal | 1 - 2 | 15:00 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Newcastle United | 5 - 0 | 17:30 |
| Sun Feb 12th | |||
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | West Bromwich Albion | 1 - 5 | 13:30 |
| Aston Villa | Manchester City | 0 - 1 | 16:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 25 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 45 | 60 |
| Manchester United | 25 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 36 | 58 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 53 |
| Arsenal | 25 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 43 |
| Chelsea | 25 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 43 |
| Newcastle United | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 42 |
| Liverpool | 25 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 39 |
| Norwich City | 25 | 9 | 8 | 8 | -4 | 35 |
| Sunderland | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 33 |
| Everton | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | -1 | 33 |
| Swansea City | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | -4 | 30 |
| Fulham | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | -5 | 30 |
| Stoke City | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | -14 | 30 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | -6 | 29 |
| Aston Villa | 25 | 6 | 10 | 9 | -5 | 28 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | -17 | 21 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | -19 | 21 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | -21 | 21 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 25 | 6 | 2 | 17 | -22 | 20 |
| Wigan Athletic | 25 | 4 | 7 | 14 | -27 | 19 |
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Comments (9)
we want di maria, he is going to be an essential part of the future of stamford bridge
Our other january signings should go...
1. Aguero or Pato and bring Franco di Santo and Michael Mancienne back
2. Villa, if we can get silva and/or mata as well, if not then i think we should get quaresma back
3. Angel di Maria
and/or Quaresma
and definately Alan Dzagoev (did u see him against Man U!)
4. Daniele de Rossi
Ribery and/or Robben if possible
Cesar Azpilicueta and Nacho Monreal from Osasuna
or Ranfinha from Schalke
or Jesus Gamez from Malaga
or Jonathan De Guzman
Luis Fabiano if possible
5. Marek Hamsik
and/or Joao Moutinho
and/or Ramires
and/or Raul Meireles
and/or Zvjezdan Misimovic
and/or Mesut Ozil
and/or Jack Rodwell
6. An ACN backup, Heskey (cheaper option)
Agbonlahor (better option)
Lavezzi (good option, memories of Zola)
Acquafresca (youth option, ditto Zola)
Dzeko
Robinho (if not a higher priority, good but expensive option)
Hulk
Chan Siu Ki (chinese merch option)
Eljero Elia
7. Patrick Vieira
8. A strong defender, Gary Cahill, Maicon, Capdevila, Javi Garcia
9. YOUTH!!!! Alex Tiexeira, Adam Johnson, David Luiz, Sebastian Corchia, Vladimir Koman, Gregory van der Wiel, Martin Galvan, Angelo Ogbonna, Zhano Ananidze, Vid Belec, Rene Khrin, Matej Delac, Miguel Vitor, Gladson Awako, Fabian Rinaudo, Matthew Upson
i agree with you that hes not an idiot manager who wont change his formation if he needs to, but this is his preferred formation. i cant see him changing it just to accommodate one player, who no matter how much promise he has shown is still a young player with potential rather than a supserstar. look at zhirkov (spelling) he is supposed be a fantastic winger and left back yet if he plays he plays in the diamond. and by they wont expand i meant the width of their pitch, firstly im not sure how big there pitch is but there are limits, but the other aspect of widening your pitch if you dont play wingers would leave your team exposed for a quick counterattack and allow players to put in crosses and stretch the team.
"they wont expand"?? 4-4-2 diamond is only the blues current default formation. but it still changeable depend to which opponent they face.. CA is not an Id1ot manager to stick with one formation..
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