We’ve got a veritable smorgasbord of City-centric media morsels for your consumption, ranging from starlets dazzling at international level to a clutch of clubs supposedly chasing the “£110m man”.
First to Croatia, where City starlets Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden impressed in the U17 European Championship on Thursday.
The MEN’s Simon Bajkowski reports: “A day after the young Blues overcame Reading, the England duo showed what they can do as England beat Norway 3-1 in their opening game of the European Under-17 Championships.
“Having fallen behind early on, winger Sancho was instrumental in levelling the scores as he beat three defenders before cheekily rolling the ball past the goalkeeper and squaring for Rhian Brewster to slot home.
“Later in the half, Sancho’s tricks again bought him room to roam forward and this time he released Callum Hudson-Odoi and the Chelsea youngster that had terrorised City in the FA Youth Cup found Brewster in the box to put England ahead.
“Foden sealed the 3-1 win after the break when he took advantage of some slack defending to glide into the box and lash home.”
Elsewhere, a number of news outlets report that Monaco ace Kylian Mbappe’s price tag has now reached the not insignificant sum of £110m, with City one of the clubs linked.
The Daily Mail’s Adam Shergold writes: “Monaco have placed a world record £110million price tag on their teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe.
“Arsene Wenger has already revealed how he tried to sign the youngster last year before admitting he could be beyond Arsenal’s financial reach while Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid have intimated they would be willing to offer around £75m plus add-ons.”
ESPN picked up a snippet from Italian radio where ex-City boss Roberto Mancini said that Mario Balotelli had the ability to emulate Real Madrid ace Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He has so much quality that, when he started, he should’ve been at the level of Ronaldo,” Mancini is quoted as saying.
Keeping on the striker theme, Saturday’s opponents Crystal Palace carry a lengthy interview with forward Christian Benteke on their official site.
The Big Belgian says: “I feel really good in this team. We are playing really well and I’ve been getting the chance to score more often and now I want to keep it up. I have to give credit to the lads. I can be confident in front of goal, but if they don’t perform then it’s going to be tough, so we are all in a very good shape.
“I started the season OK and then I had a period where it was a little bit tough, but I don’t know of any player who performs well from the first game of the season to the last. Now I’m in a good way to finish well.”
City will definitely have to be wary of the powerful striker!
That’s your lot for now, we’ll have more same place, same time on Saturday!
