SPORTS AND GAME, GOSSIPS AND TRANSFERS (Wednesday)

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will have £50m to spend in the January transfer window with strikers Edin Dzeko of Wolfsburg and Porto's Brazilian star Hulk top of the list along with Barcelona full-back Dani Alves.


Full story: Daily Mirror
Championship promotion chasers Norwich have insisted that their £2m-rated striker Grant Holt is not for sale after he was linked with a number of Premier League sides including West Ham, Wigan, Bolton and Blackpool.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is looking to pull off a sensational double swoop for Manchester City pair Adam Johnson and Nedum Onuoha.
Full story: Daily Mail

Chelsea and Real Madrid are set to battle it out to land 20-year-old Independiente striker and Cameroon international Cristian Nazarit - dubbed the South American Samuel Eto'o.
Full story: talksport

West Ham are planning to make a loan move for Manchester United striker Michael Owen in the January transfer window.
Full story: caughtoffside.com

Fulham manager Mark Hughes wants to sign former Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland, who played under the Welshman at Eastlands but has fallen out of favour at Aston Villa.
Full story: Daily Mirror

OTHER GOSSIP

Liverpool midfielder Jamie Carragher has been earmarked as an England manager of the future and is set to be offered the chance to work with one of England's youth teams and then be given the chance to work his way up through the ranks.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Tottenham defender Jonathan Woodgate is on course to make a shock first-team return after making a successful comeback in training following 13 months out.
Full story: talksport.co.uk

Richard Dunne's Aston Villa career has hit a new low after being told he is now the club's fourth-choice centre-back.
Full story: Daily Mirror

AND FINALLY

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has claimed Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is the only player in the world who is better than him.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Goodbye Rafa
Reports are emanating from the press that Inter coach Rafael Benitez has been sacked, despite recent statements by president Massimo Moratti insisting that the Spaniard was still in charge 'at the moment' and he has not spoken to any possible replacements yet, including former Milan boss Leonardo...

Barca Held By Bilbao
Barcelona finished the year with a 0-0 stalemate at Camp Nou against Athletic Bilbao in the first-leg of their Copa del Rey clash. Despite throwing on star strikers Lionel Messi and David Villa in the second-half, the Blaugrana could not find a way through the defence...

 

The only one of the three cup ties played in Spain on Tuesday to produce any goals was the clash between Segunda Division Cordoba and top-flight Deportivo La Coruna, who shared a 1-1 draw.
The match at the Nou Camp pitted the two most successful sides in Copa del Rey history against each other - Barca having 25 crowns to Athletic's 23 - and was a repeat of the 2009 final which the Catalan side won 4-1.

Barca went into the encounter averaging more than four goals a game in winning their last 10 successive fixtures, but they could not find even one breakthrough tonight despite playing most of their star names, with Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Pedro Rodriguez starting and David Villa and Lionel Messi appearing as second-half substitutes.

Pep Guardiola's men dominated but Bojan Krkic and Iniesta were both denied by Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz in the first half before Xavi volleyed a decent opening after the break and Villa had an effort ruled out.

Gerard Pique then had a great chance right at the end to earn his side a narrow advantage to take to San Mames when Messi picked out his run into the box, but the Spain international volleyed wide with his less-favoured left foot and Athletic were able to congratulate themselves on a job well done.
Further down the east coast of Spain at the Mestalla, hosts Valencia will also feel they should have built some sort of lead for their return leg against neighbours Villarreal.
Unai Emery's side had the Yellow Submarine on the back foot for much of the game but Aritz Aduriz, Pablo Hernandez, Juan Manuel Mata - who hit the post - and Ricardo Costa failed to make the most of the chances that fell their way.

Villarreal, who are five points and one spot above fourth-placed Valencia in La Liga, had a few opportunities of their own, including a decent opening late on for Nilmar, who was denied by home custodian Vicente Guaita when clean through.
In Tuesday's other match, Cordoba - one of only two remaining non-top flight club left along with Real Betis - played out a 1-1 draw with Deportivo La Coruna in testing conditions at a rain-drenched Estadio El Arcangel.

Depor took the lead with a 17th-minute penalty when Riki, who was adjudged to have been brought down by Cordoba goalkeeper Alberto Garcia, sent the home custodian the wrong way from the spot.
However, Cordoba drew level 20 minutes from time when Depor goalkeeper Manu made a mess of trying to punch clear a Jonathan Sesma free-kick, allowing Pepe Diaz to tap the ball in at the near post.
The remaining five last-16 first legs will be played on Wednesday night, with the return legs scheduled for the first week of next year.