Wilfried Bony says Toure will help him

Manchester City’s latest multi-million pound acquisition Wilfried Bony says that the presence of his international Ivory Coast teammate – Yaya Touré – will help him become a better player at City. Bony came out as the best goal scorer in the Premier League for the 2014 calendar year.

After being linked with moves for the likes of Chelsea for several months, Bony made a £ 28 million switch to Manchester City just a few days after the transfer window opened in January. Bony has enjoyed being a regular first-team player at his previous clubs – Vitesse Arnhem and Swansea. However, he is largely expected to play second fiddle to Sergio Aguero at City. Continue reading “Wilfried Bony says Toure will help him”

Pellegrini feels match between MC and Barcelona to be tighter than ever

The Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has said that Barcelona might not have wanted to face his team in the Round of 16.

City had faced Barcelona in Europe last season as well and had been defeated. The Catalan giants are the favourites again, but, it’s believed that the encounter would be much tighter this time around with the Sky Blues having built a great squad over the last 12 months.

The first leg of that pre quarter final tie would take place at Etihad in the last week of February and then, after about 15 days or so, the two teams would gather at Camp Nou for the return leg fixture.

Pellegrini is confident that his Sergio Aguero would return in time to play in that first leg.

Speaking about Aguero, the Chilean said, “Hopefully, he is back with us come January. He is so important to this side. He has set up a number of games for us this season. He can disturb the balance of the opposition; he has that quality in him. He makes impact whenever he is out there.”

When asked about his thoughts on having been made to play against Barca in the first knockout tie, Pellegrini said, “That’s the way it goes. At times, you’ve got to face strong teams early. If given choice, I would not have preferred playing Barca at this point of time and I think they would not have preferred that either. They perhaps would also have liked a different opponent. But, now, the draw has been made and it’s important to rise to the occasion.”

City has to play a handful of Premier League games before that tie. The first one of them is against Crystal Palace this Saturday.

Leiva on plans To leave the Reds

Liverpool midfielder Leiva has reportedly started to search for some new club post making just 3 competitive starts during the initial 3 months this season.

The Brazilian player commenced League Cup triumph over Middlesbrough yet has been sadly overlooked for a major part this season. His last appearance was in the West Bromwich Premier League match early October. In total, Leiva has been ticked on in 8 among Liverpool’s twelve match day squads during this term.

The Liverpool midfielder has trickled down further the pecking roster at Anfield  after the sign up of Can (Emre) whom Liverpool grabbed from Leverkusen. The Brazilian has revealed about his plans of reigniting attempts to come out of the Reds. His earlier endeavor to shift to Napoli collapsed down last summer but the player is all set to take another chance.

“I am not speaking with any club at present since I am under contract here. However, I’m certainly looking around as I’m not playing at the moment”, said Lucas while approached to say a few words about his decision to shift from Liverpool.

“There were discussions with Napoli past summer, however, the parties did not reach up to any satisfactory agreement”, he continued. “The Napoli situation was not much advantageous for everybody but in spite of that, I do know that Rafa always believes in me.”

“I long to play yet I should be patient”, he continued. “I have to come up with a good solution, whether with the Reds or some another club. There’re rumors threading me to Spanish club Atletico, yet it was not anything concrete. I should think about cutting my ties off Liverpool as there’s no space for me here.”

Lucas’ plans to leave the Reds would be certainly disappointing for Rodgers since the man planned to build up a powerful team with the Brazilian midfielder as one his strongest supports.