Andre Villas-Boas Expects City To Challenge For Premier League Title

Image Credit Flickr User Gilyo

Andre Villa-Boas has said that he expects Manchester City to challenge for the Premier League title when the new season starts. City have been splashing the cash this summer and yesterday signed Argentine striker Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid in a deal reported to be around the £35 million mark.

The Chelsea boss insists that City will be looking to start the season strong as they aim to win the league, "I think it's pretty clear that they are building a squad to fight for the title," the 33-year-old said.

"It's for Mancini to say what his objectives are but my personal perspective is that they are making good signings and that they can threaten for the league."

The former Porto coach feels it be close race between a number of five clubs, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City.

"I think Man United as the title holders will be a reference for everybody but you can see the amount of activity Manchester City have had in the market. It's pretty clear they have a title objective as well," he said.

"Liverpool did more or less the same, Tottenham want to get back into the top four so they'll be challenging and Arsenal are always a threat - we haven't seen the last of them in the transfer market - so everybody is strengthening and as long as everybody feels happy with what they have, everybody competes in a different way."

Chelsea have been relatively quiet in the transfer market so far this summer, but Villas-Boas suggests he will add to squad is the right player becomes available.

"It all boils down to the evaluation period, there's still plenty of time for those decisions," added Villas-Boas.

"The players that we have shown interest in are young and looking to the future of the club, you might see similar moves in the future from us. It is one of the oldest squads in the Premier League, we respect them and we are happy enough with the quality that we have to challenge for the title but we are also looking into the future.

"We are so comfortable at the moment with what we are getting because of the young players we have. Things for the future are brighter for us in that respect."

Carlos Tevez: I Need To Leave City

Carlos Tevez has once again reiterated that he wants to leave Manchester City, the South American has struggled to settle down at Eastlands and has asked the fans to understand the reason he wants to leave.

Tevez has always insisted that he finds it hard being so far away from his family and that me misses his daughters immensely who live back home in Argentina, in December Tevez submitted a transfer request to the club but shortly after he decided against the decision after clear the air talks were held with the club.

His long term future was always subjected to speculation, but it was inevitable the striker would leave at the end of the season.

Tevez who is currently on international duty with Argentina in the Copa America and he has claimed that when the tournament is over. He doesn’t want to return to Manchester.

"It is with great regret that I have to inform Manchester City  of my wish to leave the club," he said in a statement.

"I would like to state that I have great respect for the club, its supporters and the owner, Sheikh Mansour, who has been nothing other than respectful to me.

Tevez has always insisted that he was 100% committed to the club, but after spending time with his family over the summer. The front man has now declared that he needs to leave the club to be closer to his family.

"I hope that the people understand the difficult circumstances I have been living under the past 12 months, in regards to my family.

"Living without my children in Manchester has been incredibly challenging for me.

"Everything I do, I do for my daughters, Katie and Florencia. I need to be closer to them and to spend more time with them.

"I need them to be happy because my life is about them now. I need to be in a place where they can adapt.

Tevez made 86 appearences while scoring 53 goals at City and he played an important part in City winning the FA Cup and securing a Champions League place for the club this season.

"Being captain of Manchester City, qualifying for the Champions League, winning the FA Cup and finishing as top-scorer last season has made me very proud.

"I hope that most of the City fans will understand that I have given them my all on the pitch and that my dedication to the City cause has been 100% on the pitch.

"I hope I have done my bit to help City continue their progress towards their ambition to be champions of England and to advance in the Champions League.

"I have no doubt that the players and management of City will achieve great success in the future."

Tevez has done his best for the club and always gave 100% to the City cause.

Anyone with children can fully understand that the Argentine player wants to be closer to his daughters. He has been away from home for long periods of time without seeing his family and his decision should be respected by the fans. Tevez has more than paid back the City faithful with his goal ratio for the club.

Carlos Tevez Wants To Remain At City

Carlos Tevez' agent has suggested that he expects his client to be a Manchester City player next season. There has been a lot of speculation regarding the player’s future after Tevez revealed that he is eager to leave England and be closer to his family in his native Argentina.

His representative, Kia Joorabchian, has claimed the forward is now prepared to stay as he is ready to bring his family over to Manchester from South America.

"I don't think speculation about Carlos leaving is fair at the moment," Joorabchian said. "I don't think money is a consideration.

"Maybe it's a case of his family coming over to him. That's something he's trying to sort out. I'm sure in the next week he will sort the family issue out.

"Once he does, he will announce it and everyone will be in a better place."

Joorabchian claims that Tevez has not asked to leave the Eastlands club and remains committed to Manchester City. The Argentine helped City win the FA Cup last season and now wants to help the club win more silverware.

"Carlos has always had a goal. The goal was that City needed to get into the Champions League and win a trophy," added Joorabchian.

"And they won a trophy and achieved that goal. Now that has given him a tremendous feeling. He held that trophy with a lot of pride.

"If you look at the team they are going to get stronger and stronger and, if Carlos stays, they would be my favourite to win the title.

"I'm sure that will be a factor in his mind and, the fact that City fans have embraced him, will count for a lot along with his great relationship with the supporters.

"I think all these factors will be positives for him to stay. Carlos has not made any decision to move.
"We have not asked to leave the club."

Carlos Tevez: I Want To Quit City

Manchester City has been rocked by the news that Carlos Tevez wants to quit the Eastlands sparking worldwide transfer frenzy for the Argentine, this comes only days after manager Roberto Mancini insisted that his skipper will stay.

The 27-year-old's tender relationship with the manager has led to speculation that he could leave at the end of the season and speaking on Argentina’s Radio del Plata, the hitman said; "I want to leave Manchester City,"

"I've been treated very well here and I'm grateful," he added. "I also gave my everything for the club to receive the results it has had. But I need a change of scene."

Carlos Tevez initially handed in a transfer request towards the end of last year but was persuaded to stay, but it now seems that striker as clearly made up his mind.

"Football has changed a lot for me and I don't know if I will even make it to the next World Cup. And that has nothing to do with whether I'm selected or not," he explained, adding that an unlikely move back to his homeland would be his preferred option.

"To go back to Boca Juniors would be beautiful but it is very difficult.

"But if we're speaking seriously, financial issues would make my return difficult."

Maradona Turns 50: 50 Facts for Diego's Birthday

Everyone at the World in Sport wishes Diego Maradona a very happy 50th Birthday.  

To help celebrate this occasion we would like to present you with fify facts and quotes about the famous (and infamous in equal measure) Argentinean soccer player.

 Happy birthday Maradona!


1 - Diego Armando Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, three days after Muhammad Ali won his first professional boxing fight.

2 - There has always been a rivalry between Maradona and Pele.  Talking about Pele’s award for ‘Best Ever Player, Diego said "Pele should go back to the museum."

3 - Maradona’s first name has its origins in Greek and Hebrew despite being used largely in Italian and Spanish these days.  It means either a supplanter or a teacher.

4 - Maradona has two children – legally.  In a slightly ambivalent attitude towards fatherhood he once said: "My legitimate kids are Dalma and Giannina. The rest are a product of my money and mistakes."

5 - Maradona’s middle name is Armando – it means man in the army.  Perhaps if we take it as a metaphor for his soccer career, it is quite appropriate.

6 - He represented his country, Argentina 91 times (though to his opponents it must have seemed much more than that).

7 - During that time he scored 34 goals for Argentina.

8 - He represented Argentina in four World Cups, 82, 86, 90 and 94.

9 - He played for Boca Juniors, being instrumental in their rise to the League Championship in 1982 before he moved to Barcelona.

10 - In 1985 he left Barcelona for Napoli where he contributed greatly to their winning two Series A titles – their only such title to date.

Image Credit Flickr User Mr.Boombust

11 - Maradona was skipper for Argentina sixteen times – this is the world record for the most appearances as skipper for a country in tat tournament.

12 - Maradona was only 15 when he started his professional career, making his debut for Argentinos Juniors on March

13 - He has really been in 5 World Cups.  He represented Argentina in their youth squad in 1979, winning the Youth World Cup in Japan.  The team won 3-1 against the Soviet Union.

14 - At 16 he made his international debut.  This was at the Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.  The match was against Hungary

15 - Che Guevara is one of his heroes.  He has a tattoo of the revolutionary on his right arm. He is also best mates with Fidel Castro. 

16 - Diego was a consistent target for dirty tricks in his international career.  During the 1986 World Cup in Mexico alone there were 53 fouls against him.

17 - 1986 was a good year for Maradona.  He captained his country to World Cup victory against West Germany, beating them three goals to two in the final.

18 - The same tournament gave England fans his most notorious moment.  In an infamous moment he scored against the English team in the quarter final – using his hand.  After the incident, which he would not live down in the English press for many a year, he said: “The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, a little by the head of Maradona.”

19 - After smashing a photographer’s camera for being intrusive, Diego said "I did it with the hand of reason."

20 - Maradona had a problem in the USA at the 1994 World Cup.  He played only two games ad scored only a single goal (against Greece).  The reason?  He failed a dope test and was sent home with his tail between his legs. In 1991 Maradona also left Napoli after he had failed a test for cocaine.

Image Credit Flickr User juaedc

21 - Maradona and Claudia Villafane married on November 7 1989.  They were married for fifteen years, divorcing in 2004.

22 - He left owing Napoli a little bit of money to the Italian tax man.  Officials said in 2009 that Maradona owed them €37 million. However, more than half of this is interest on the original debt.

23 - Despite their rivalry, when Maradona became a chat show host on Argentinian television in 2004, Pele was his very first guest.

24 - Maradona became manager of the Argentina’s international squad two years ago, in October 2008.

25 - The next month saw his team get off to a great start – beating Scotland 1-0 on 19 November.

26 - It hasn’t always been a bed of roses since then.  During the World Cup qualifiers the team lost by an astounding six goals to one against Bolivia. 

27 - Despite this terrible defeat the team managed to get through to the tournament.  To his critics (who were legion) Maradona retorted. "To those who did not believe: now suck my d**k - I'm sorry ladies for my words - and keep on sucking it. I am either white or black. I will never be grey in my life. You treated me as you did. Now keep on sucking d**ks. I am grateful to my players and to the Argentinean people. I thank no one but them. The rest, keep on sucking d**ks.”  Not one for revenge then.

28 - FIFA weren’t terribly happy about this foul mouthed outburst.  They slapped a two month ban on him.

29 - Maradona got his own verbal revenge against FIFA when he complained vociferously about the new ball to be used in the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa. "I would ask all Fifa directors to stop talking about me and to start working on having a proper football. This ball is useless. It's impossible to control."

30 - Back in 1998 he said, about the World Cup of that year. "The players have all got square feet. They are like Robocops, they have more need of lubricant than massage. I don't believe the tournament could be worse."

Image Credit Flickr User Diego 3336

31 - He will stick by his players.  When Lionel Messi failed to score a single goal in the 2010 tournament he said. “Anyone saying he didn't have a great World Cup is an idiot.”

32 - Yet some will stick the knife in.  A former team  mate, Valdano, said of him.  “He is someone many people want to emulate, a controversial figure, loved, hated, who stirs great upheaval, especially in Argentina... Stressing his personal life is a mistake. Maradona has no peers inside the pitch, but he has turned his life into a show, and is now living a personal ordeal that should not be imitated.”

33 - Such is his following back home, the Argentine Football Association asked FIFA to put his famous No 10 shirt in to retirement, in his honor.  Unsurprisingly, FIFA said, “No, niet, non”.

34 - Maradona has a stadium named after him – the team Argentinos Juniors honored him by naming their ground Estadio Diego Armando Maradona.

35 - Politics are something upon which Maradona has been more than willing to comment.  After the 1986 Hand of God incident he said about England: “It was as if we had beaten a country, more than just a football team."  The two countries had been at war for real only four years previously.

36 - Maradona has had his own personal problems with drugs.  Interviewed in 1996 he said: "I was, I am and I always will be a drug addict. A person who gets involved in drugs has to fight it every day."

37 - The new millennium came and FIFA in their wisdom decided to award a player of the century title.  They couldn’t make their minds up and in the end awarded it to Maradona and Pele jointly.  Maradona said: "The people voted for me. Now they want me to share the prize with Pele. I'm not going to share the prize with anybody."

38 - In 1990 he was held in such high esteem that when asked which players he was putting on the pitch the Argentinean Manager Carlos Billardo famously replied: “Maradona – and ten others.”

39 - Although Maradona has not done a Cantona and acted in movies he was the subject of a documentary by the Serbian Filmmaker Kusturica.  It made its world premier at Cannes in 2008.

40 - Sir Bobby Robson said of the player in 1986: "With Maradona, Arsenal could have won the World Cup." Bob Wilson said of Maradona: “a flawed genius who has now become a genius who is flawed.”

Image Credit Flickr User Paulo Camera

41 - FIFA have called his 1986 goal against England the Goal of the Century.  No, not the Hand of God goal – the one which happened four minutes afters when he dribbled past desultory defenders to put one past England goalie Peter Shilton.  That made the score 2-0.

42 - In 2006 at the World Cup in Germany Maradona fell out of his pram about Pele – again.  He refused to go to the tournament’s opening ceremony, saying "I'm not here to look at bloody Pele walking around."

43 - Pele got his own back.  This year, reflecting on Maradona’s tenure as Manager of the Argentinean National Squad, Pele said: “But it isn't Maradona's fault. It is the fault of whoever put him in charge.”

44 - Maradona’s average goal-per-game in domestic club competitions is 0.526

45 - After only Batistuta and Crespo he is the third highest goal scorer for Argentina – ever.

46 - Ever since 1986, it is common for Argentines abroad to hear Maradona's name as a token of recognition, even in remote places.

47 - Psychologists have even got in to the scramble to say things about the famous player.  Pyschologist Gustavo Bernstein has said: “Maradona is our maximum term of reference. No one embodies our essence better. No one bears our emblem more nobly. To no other, in the last twenty years, have we offered up so much passion. Argentina is Maradona, Maradona is Argentina.”

48 - Maradona’s fans are famous for being the ultimate devotees.  In 1998 they started the Church of Maradona in Argentina.  So this 2- October this year is actually 50 DD (Despues de Diego or After Diego).

49 - For all his ups and downs, Maradona remains one of the best player the world has ever seen.

50 - There is little doubt that everyone wishes him another very happy fifty years!