Sergio Aguero: Manchester City striker out for up to eight weeks

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero could be out of action for up to eight weeks, says manager Manuel Pellegrini.

The Argentine, City's leading scorer this season with 19 goals, injured his calf during Saturday's 6-3 victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal.

It was originally thought he would be out for a month but Pellegrini revealed the latest prognosis after the 3-1 Capital One Cup win over Leicester.

"The doctor has said he has at least one month or eight weeks," he said.

Aguero, who has scored 13 times in the league, netted the opener against the Gunners before limping off at the start of the second half.

"I don't know how many weeks but it will be at least one month," added Pellegrini. "It is very difficult to know at this moment how many weeks it can be."

If Aguero is unable to recover for eight weeks he stands to miss crucial matches against Chelsea in the Premier League, and Barcelona in the Champions League.

City are also waiting for news of defender Pablo Zabaleta, who limped off after just 12 minutes at the King Power Stadium with a hamstring injury, a week after fellow defender Micah Richards suffered the same problem during the 3-2 win over Bayern Munich.

"It's a pity for Pablo because he felt a little problem in his hamstring and we'll see tomorrow how damaging it is," said Pellegrini.

George Smith: Prolific goalscorer for Manchester City

George Smith, who once scored four times for Manchester City in a derby rout of Manchester United, died just five days before the passing of his friend and team-mate Bert Trautmann. Like the celebrated German goalkeeper, the 92-year-old's story was one of triumph over adversity inflicted by the Second World War: Smith became a prolific goalscorer despite a shocking injury sustained under "friendly fire" while serving in East Africa.

Smith was a sergeant on secondment with the King's African Rifles when his unit was mistakenly strafed by the South African airforce. He was struck in the arm, leaving one hand partially paralysed and the arm so disfigured that he always wore a glove or pulled down the sleeve of his shirt to cover the damage. The City historian Gary James, who interviewed him in 2003, described how the fingers and hand were "permanently rigid in a clasping fashion" while his arm still had "two large indentations where the bullet entered and exited his flesh".

City officials doubted whether he would be able to resume his career once the fighting was over, making Smith undergo trials before renewing his contract of £2/10s/0d per week. He came through them all. When he collected a hat-trick against Tranmere Rovers in the war-time North Regional League on the opening day of the 1944-45 campaign – his first outing for City in two and a half years – it was evident that his finishing prowess had survived intact.

Smith, whose family moved from the Fylde coast to Salford when he was young, joined City from the Adelphi Lads Club in 1938, when supporters were trying to fathom how a team that won the Football League championship 12 months earlier had just been relegated. After the outbreak of war and suspension of the Football League a year later, he made his senior bow in a wartime fixture against Stockport County in December 1939, perhaps surprisingly failing to score in a 6-6 draw. There were further wartime outings for City, as well as guest appearances with Scottish side Heart of Midlothian, before he was called up for active service.

In April 1946, in one of City's last wartime matches, Smith hit all the goals, including three in seven minutes, in a 4-1 defeat of United before 62,000 spectators at Maine Road, where the Reds were staging home fixtures after the German bombing of Old Trafford. "It was nice," he told James, "for the landlord to get one over the tenants."

Smith finally made his Football League debut at Leicester City in August 1946 – a mere eight years after he signed for City. Operating in the inside-left position, he was the leading scorer with 23 goals in 38 matches as they took the Second Division title. Over the next four seasons he amassed 52 goals in 125 League games and was told that the Football Association had watched him with a view to a possible England cap – but were "nervous" about his disability.

With hindsight, it seems surprising not only that City were prepared to offload the 29-year-old Smith in 1951 (after 80 goals in 179 peacetime appearances and 45 in 90 wartime games), but also that the club who splashed £5,000 on him were Chesterfield, of the Third Division (North). He continued to strike consistently, scoring at least 15 goals in each of five consecutive seasons and representing the section against the Third (South) in a televised match at Accrington in 1955. When he retired from full-time football, in 1958, he had added 102 goals in 266 competitive matches for Chesterfield, the third highest tally in their history.

In January that year he had appeared as a guest when This Is Your Life honoured his friend Matt Busby, who had been United's manager barely a year when Smith plundered four goals against his charges. Within a month a plane carrying the Scot and his dazzling young side, the Busby Babes, had crashed at Munich with a heavy loss of life.

Playing part-time for Mossley and Hyde United, Smith worked in the sales department of a tyre-manufacturer. He spent his final five years in a care home, widowed and suffering from dementia. Trautmann, in what would prove a poignant final interview, recalled how Smith had "really welcomed me when I joined the club". He added: "George was a great goalscorer, and even to play football again after such a terrible injury made him exceptional."

George Beacher Smith, footballer: born Fleetwood, Lancashire 7 February 1921; played for Manchester City 1946-51, Chesterfield 1951-58; married Marjorie (deceased); two sons (deceased) and one daughter; died Bury, Greater Manchester 14 July 2013.

David Wagstaffe: Gifted Wolverhampton flankman with a distinctive dribbling style

If England had not won the World Cup in 1966, it’s difficult to believe that David Wagstaffe would not have been capped for his country. But after Alf Ramsey’s side lifted the Jules Rimet trophy on home soil without deploying specialist wingers in the later stages of the tournament, the dogmatic, recently knighted coach stuck to his guns and the enchantingly gifted Wolverhampton Wanderers flankman, who spent a dozen years at Molineux after commencing his career with Manchester City, was condemned to the international wilderness.

Certainly Wagstaffe in full flight would have graced any stage. A devastating dribbler with a distinctive scurrying style, typically he would be hunched over the ball close to the left touchline before dropping a shoulder and setting off on one of his coruscating trademark runs. Beautifully balanced, nimble enough to bewilder close markers with sleight of foot and sudden changes of direction in congested areas, and capable of scorching bursts of acceleration over short distances, he was also a tantalising crosser, with Wolves strikers Derek Dougan and John Richards the principal beneficiaries of his precise delivery.

Locating the net himself was not a speciality – he contributed only 31 goals in more than 400 senior outings for the Black Countrymen – though he contributed occasional classics, such as the 35-yard piledriver in the 5-1 home thrashing of Arsenal in November 1971 which won Match of the Day’s goal of the month competition.

Ironically, there had been no shortage of Wagstaffe strikes in his days as a centre-forward for Manchester Schoolboys, but he had been converted to a left-sider by the time he enlisted as an amateur at Maine Road in June 1958 and went on to collect England youth caps in that role.

 Having turned professional in May 1960, he made his senior debut four months later, revelling in being a member of the same forward line as the dazzling young Denis Law, and he prevailed in the contest with Clive Colbridge for City’s number-11 shirt.

In 1961/62, with Law departed, Wagstaffe was ever-present in Les McDowall’s ordinary side and a season later suffered the gloom of relegation. Having demonstrated his versatility by switching to the right flank, and after 161 appearances for his home-town club, the vastly promising 21-year-old was sold to top-flight Wolves for £30,000 on Boxing Day 1964.

Alas, he had joined another outfit on the slide, destined for demotion that spring, but Wagstaffe emerged vividly as one of his new club’s key performers and he enjoyed life in the second tier, sparkling under the easygoing regime of Ronnie Allen and returning his best seasonal tally of nine goals.

By 1966/67 he was approaching his prime, meshing effectively with fellow attackers Peter Knowles, Ernie Hunt, Hugh McIlmoyle and, by campaign’s end, the prolific Dougan. He didn’t miss a match as Wolves earned promotion as runners-up to Midlands rivals Coventry City, then he continued to thrive in the elite division, even though he didn’t like Bill McGarry, an abrasive disciplinarian for whom the genial Allen was dismissed in 1968.

But although Wagstaffe described the new manager as domineering and obnoxious, he continued to play magnificently and knew his greatest success during the McGarry era. Still that elusive full England call never arrived – but he did win his sole senior representative honour, being selected on the left flank for the Football League’s 3-2 victory over the Scottish League at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, in March 1972.

Club-wise, there was more joy. In 1971 he was integral to Wolves’ fourth-place finish in the title race, which earned them a berth in the Uefa Cup, then he excelled in the European competition as Juventus and Ferencvaros were conquered on the way to the final. There the glory ended, despite a Wagstaffe goal in the 1-1 second-leg encounter with Tottenham at White Hart Lane, as Spurs had triumphed 2-1 in the earlier Molineux clash.

However, the first and only major trophy of his career was not to be long delayed, Wolves beating Manchester City 2-1 in the 1974 League Cup final, although his Wembley experience was tempered by severe pain from a damaged thigh muscle – this after he had been less than upfront about his fitness when quizzed by the anxious McGarry before the match.

Thereafter there was a niggling hangover from playing when injured, and there was never again quite the same captivating flow to his game. He slipped from first-team contention and in January 1976, aged 32, he joined Blackburn Rovers, newly promoted from the Third Division, at first on loan.

 Now he embarked on an entertaining Indian summer, regaining the confidence under Ewood Park boss Jim Smith. Wagstaffe was a good-natured fellow who liked a drink and a bet, in moderation, but who also had a nervous aspect to his character which could be heightened by perceived harassment, which he never received from Smith.

 Though his pace had declined he was still capable of telling midfield scheming, his accurate and imaginative passing delighting Rovers fans as he brought much-needed experience to an initially toiling team which he helped lift to fifth place in the table in 1977/78.

Perversely, as he was far more sinned against than sinning, that October he became the first British player to receive a red card, picking up two yellows against Orient at Brisbane Road.

Wagstaffe, who began running a hotel on Blackpool promenade while at Blackburn, joined the Third Division Seasiders briefly in August 1978 before a fleeting return to Ewood Park in the following spring was ended by injury, after he had taken his total of League appearances to 564.

Later he worked in the building trade, became steward of a Conservative Club in Blackpool, then returned to Molineux, where he managed Waggy’s Bar in the Stan Cullis Stand.

David Wagstaffe, footballer; born Manchester 5 April 1943; played for Manchester City 1960-64, Wolverhampton Wanderers 1964-76, Blackburn Rovers 1976-78 and 1979, Blackpool 1978-79; died Wolverhampton 6 August 2013.

Sergio Aguero to face no action over David Luiz challenge

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero will face no action for his challenge on Chelsea defender David Luiz in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final .

The Football Association said the 24-year-old Argentina striker will not be charged retrospectively for the two-footed tackle in City's 2-1 victory.

It follows confirmation referee Chris Foy saw at least part of the incident and acted on it during the match.

Chelsea were awarded a free-kick after the tackle nine minutes from time.

Brazilian Luiz said Aguero should admit that he made a bad challenge after the game.

"Aguero's a great player, he needs to be honest with himself and say, 'I don't like to do bad tackles," he said. "It was five seconds of anger and I forgive him.
"

Manchester United v Manchester City: Yaya Toure deal shows City’s ambition

It was only a modest 30p Biro. Nothing fancy, nothing acquired from famous stationers but this cheap plastic pen with the coarse black ink should be placed in the Manchester City museum as an important club artefact.

Show of strength: Yaya Toure keeps Newcastle's Dan Gosling at bay 

Just when critics wondered how City would react to United’s inevitable recovery, along came three squiggles of Yaya Touré’s borrowed pen on two pages of a new four-year contract at 11.39am on Thursday at Carrington.

Ambition has never left the building. It is there in writing.

City’s transformation on and off a pitch that Touré graces with such dynamism is a cash-intensive, time-consuming undertaking by Abu Dhabi.

In an impatient world, a disappointing few months for an expensive team precipitates sceptical, occasionally apocalyptical headlines.

That is why Touré’s show of commitment to the club until 2017 transmits a welcome message of permanence, of exceptional quality staying associated with City long-term.

Touré’s well-timed scribbles before Monday’s derby declare that the skirmish for this season’s title may well be lost but the fight goes on next season, and the season after. City are here to stay.

They are simply echoing traits of their successful neighbours: keep building, keep responding.

Fascination surrounds City’s wealth, the characters it attracts and ensuing fluctuations of fortunes. City fans must have rolled their eyes when Carlos Tévez’s 250 hours of community service for driving misdemeanours received front-page exposure on the day North Korea threatened to go ballistic.

The end of the road for Tévez hardly compares with the end of the world. Tévez can get a taxi. He could share one with Samir Nasri.

Amid all this fevered focus on City players’ motoring mayhem, and scrutiny of the outgoing champions’ results and performances, Touré’s signature brings some calm and perspective.

This is not his most vibrant season, numbering as many bookings as goals (10) in his 36 games, including the Community Shield, for City and Ivory Coast, yet it would have been deeply damaging for the club if he had stalled on a deal, signalling a desire to leave.

City employ other talents but none quite in Touré’s coveted class with the possible exception of an in-form Sergio Agüero. The 29-year-old could walk into any dressing-room in the elite level of European football and be confident of marching back out in the starting line-up.

Different players, different teams, different systems, but Sergio Busquets or Touré at Barcelona?

Pep Guardiola eventually backed Busquets but Touré has sharpened his game since then, certainly in his first-touch redistribution. Sami Khedira or Touré at Real Madrid? Khedira is more defensive so comparisons are tricky. Many would go with Touré.

United, for all their 15-point advantage, could easily find space for him. Touré lost 3-2 to United at the Etihad in December but the memory remains of his storming game on April 30 when Ji-sung Park, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs could not live with him.

Went the limpet Park went off, Touré was even more of a force. The 6ft 3in, 14st Ivorian makes things happen, turning away from markers, surging forward with the ball.

When he begins building speed from midfield, he covers the ground quickly with those long strides, his strength of technique and physique making him equally hard to dispossess.

There is marvellous footage from last season of first Per Mertesacker and then Alex Song diving in and Touré simply gliding away from the Arsenal pair. There is the defensive side, sliding in to whisk the ball away from under Gareth Bale’s feet.

There is the power in the air, heading in at corners. There is the shooting with left foot or right, often crisp and precise as against Chelsea in February. He is all-round class.

There is dust in the air as well as ink on the paper at City. For all the misgivings over how the sums (as sponsorship or owner hand-out) have been juggled to appease FFP (Financial Fair Play), the £100 million Etihad Campus is a gem.

The City Football Academy rises with a large V-shaped building already constructed, soon to house tractors and other machinery.

Some of the 16 pitches have been levelled, with City’s first team and Academy aiming to be in-situ for the 2014-15 pre-season. The Campus, situated in a bereft area with polluted soil, will greatly benefit community as well as club.

Feasibility studies continue into how the Etihad Stadium can be expanded whether one or two stands at a time or a whole new tier placed on top.

With former Barcelona executives on board in Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, the manner of Nou Camp’s erstwhile redevelopment has been mentioned. Digging down would be too difficult.

Newcastle United considered that at St James’ Park during Sir John Hall’s reign but realised the Metro ran under the centre-circle.

In an office in the stadium, Tom Glick, the smart, friendly chief commercial and operating officer recruited from Derby County, looks to generate more money.

The desire to comply with FFP, whether through the deals for the Campus or maximising match-day revenue, is vital.

Nobody knows whether Uefa will possess the courage to ban clubs from European competition — and nobody is really holding their breath – but the FFP document has certainly focused attention.

As well as the substantial basic as before, Touré’s contract came with more performance-related incentives for goals, assists and trophies.

Good people are in powerful positions at City and a pronouncement, even a quiet confirmation, that Roberto Mancini will remain as manager would add to that feeling of continuity.

His position will be reviewed in the summer by Abu Dhabi but then they review everything. It is difficult to hear much unharmonious mood music.

The idea of Mancini being ousted would be offensive to most supporters. Just listen to the City fans at Old Trafford, voicing their love of the man who came from Italy to manage Man City.

They remember the barren years before Mancini. He is high-maintenance but he has brought trophies. Even this low-yield term could bring the FA Cup.

Tensions undoubtedly exist within the dressing-room, between manager and certain players. He has criticised Joe Hart excessively and Nasri legitimately. It does not mean there is incipient mutiny towards Mancini. He needs to start refining the summer targets.

City require a ball-winner, a high-class winger and prolific centre-forward. Touré’s extended residency will show potential new stars that City are here to stay. If they decide to sign, the Biro is on the table in the office next to Begiristain’s.

Manchester City will battle to retain Premier League title until last kick of the season insists goalkeeper Joe Hart

Goalkeeper Joe Hart claims Manchester City will fight to retain their Premier League title to the very last game of the season - even if winning the league becomes mathematically impossible.

Manchester City's hopes of retaining their title look slim with rivals Manchester United holding a 12-point lead at top of the table with just 11 games remaining.

The champions boosted confidence after a run of three league games without a win by seeing off third-placed Chelsea on Sunday and Hart is determined to keep the dream alive.

The England goalkeeper, who saved a penalty from Frank Lampard in the 2-0 victory, said: ''Even if there is one game to go and we are 12 points behind, we'll still believe. We've got to.

''We've got to keep fighting, you never know. We have just got to keep going.

''It's going to be really hard, we've got a lot to do but we're going to have a damn good go at doing it.''

Manager Roberto Mancini was scathing of his players after a dismal and damaging defeat at Southampton just over a fortnight ago but Hart claims their spirit was never in doubt.

The 25-year-old, himself subject of individual criticism from Mancini since the loss at St Mary's Stadium, said: ''We have got it, no doubt about it.

''We all under-performed against Southampton - that's gone, you can't do anything now, you move on from that. You have got to look forward.

''You can speculate and talk about the past but we have just got to look forward and try to win. The only way is up for us.''

City are not in action again until they travel to struggling Aston Villa next Monday, by which time they could be 15 points behind United.

Mancini hopes captain Vincent Kompany will be fit to return after five games out with a calf injury which has taken longer than expected to heal.

Mancini said: ''The calf is a strange injury, and it is very dangerous. I hope we can recover him for Aston Villa.''

Midfielder Gareth Barry will hope to prove his fitness from an ankle problem while Mancini has also revealed right-back Maicon faces a month on the sidelines after a knee operation.

The Brazilian missed the Christmas programme and the whole of January with a knee injury but had made three substitute appearances this month.

Mancini said: ''He has had surgery on his knee, but in a month he can recover. The operation was to clean his meniscus.''

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli needs to be loved then he will win you the league says Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes that Manchester City still have a great chance of winning the Premier League if manager Roberto Mancini shows Mario Balotelli some love.

Where is the love? Mario Balotelli can be decisive in Manchester City retainign the league title if handled correctly says Zlatan 

Both players, who were team-mates at Inter between 2007 and 2009, have had more than their fair share of controversies as well as spellbinding moments on the pitch.

Mancini has indulged the young forward through his mixed career at the Etihad Stadium but in recent months appears to have grown weary with him, with the suggestion Balotelli may be sold this month if a suitable buyer can be found.

However, Ibrahimovic believes that his former team-mate represents City's best chance at overhauling the gap between themselves and current league leaders United, as long as he is treated right, insisting to spend time with Balotelli is to fall in love with him.

"If any player can retain the title for them it is Mario," Ibrahimovic told the Daily Mail.

"All the class that Manchester City have I would still say Mario is the most capable.

"Roberto will know the same as me that the way to get the best out of Mario is to love him."

Ibrahimovic is enjoying an excellent season with his current club Paris Saint-Germain, a cash-rich team that he believes can become one of the powerhouses of European football.

"Paris is a club in major transition," the 31-year-old former AC and Barcelona striker said in the Qatari capital Doha, where the club is training during the French league's winter break.

"We have some fantastic players but this project only began a year-and-a-half ago and I have only been here six months but I have seen things advance very, very quickly."

Ibrahimovic is the leading scorer in Ligue 1 with 18 goals and said he and his team-mates were working hard every day to improve to the standard of Europe's biggest clubs.

He added that he had "aged 10 years" since arriving at the Parc des Princes from the San Siro six months ago, given the massive scrutiny of big-spending PSG, owned by Qatari investors, and interest in his performances.

"For me, everything has been positive but in the end everything depends on the results. If we win, everything will be better," he said.

Carlo Ancelotti's team go into the second half of the season joint top with Lyon and Marseille and also have a Champions League last 16 encounter with Valencia to look forward to on February 12.

Ibrahimovic accepted that a move to PSG, whose reputation has not been matched by silverware in recent years, may have been seen as a surprise but he said the transfer was all geared towards helping the club develop.

"I knew when I came here, it would be a big thing for the media because to come to Paris was not necessarily expected for a player at the peak of his career," he added.

"If you look at the project, the people behind the club and the players who have come here, the situation is different.

"There are clubs like Paris or Manchester City who want to become big clubs and the best players will not necessarily decide to join a club based on their history, it will also come down to a new project and new excitement.

"For the rest of the season, we have to concentrate on all competitions, even the French Cup. We are training every day to achieve our goals and we want to win everything."