Man City beat Man Utd... to Eden Hazard

It could be part of the mind games preceding the most masochist derby of derbies of all time in the English Premier League in the last 10 years – Manchester United versus Manchester City on Monday.

However, it will come as a shock to Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson that United may lose one to City after all.

However Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has confirmed he will snatch Lille’s Eden Hazard from Ferguson.

Hazard is one of the hottest transfer targets with Spurs, Real Madrid, Milan and Barcelona all keen on buying the £35million-rated Belgian.

Mancini told a French magazine: “I like Hazard a lot. He’s a good player, he’s young and he would do great things in our team.

“Given his technical qualities City would be the perfect destination for him.

I know him and have been following him for a long time. He’s a player a lot of teams want.”

Both Mancini and Ferguson have personally watched Hazard play for Lille.

Ferguson said: “Hazard is a very good player but there are very good players in Europe.

“He has excellent qualities. He’s very quick over the first 10 yards.”

The Sun also reported Real Madrid and boss Jose Mourinho want Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero at the Bernabeu next season.

Arsenal first in line for Guardiola

Finally, it’s not about how many you win – two Champions Leagues, three league titles and a host of others for a grand total of 13.
It’s about the ones you lose.

Pep Guardiola’s amazing reign denied Sir Alex Ferguson the title of undisputed Best Football Manager of All Time.Now, he lost just two key games.

One at home to Real Madrid. And the Champions League semifinal to a pretty ordinary (at least on paper) Chelsea team.According to Spanish newspaper Marca, The Barca boss told his players the news in a meeting.

Hardly will the dust be allowed settle on his leaving Barca and who will come in next at the Nou Camp, have the rumours already begun as to where Guardiola will go next.

Several British reports have claimed that Guardiola would love to work in England in the future.

Chelsea seems the most obvious destination – in terms of the kind of football Roman Abramovich wants to see played at Stamford Bridge and Guardiola being the master of the tiki-taka.

However, in broader footballing sense there is already a club that plays his style of football, is committed to being patient with mangers and most importantly, has the kind of system that mirrors Barcelona.

Arsenal.

Guardiola would be a perfect fit to take over from a waning Arsene Wenger and could put to rest the Gunners worries about the future at the Emirates.

Given that Guardiola in any case will take a break from football, it would give Wenger the chance to prepare for a take-over and Guardiola the time to take over.

Arsenal are badly in need of a future plan that goes beyond Wenger and this may be their chance.

There is of course the chance that Wenger could look at a swap and take over at Barcelona – moving Robin Van Persie with him.

That would unite the RVP-Fabregas pairing and with a Messi in the mix could unleash a whole new footballing elite attack.

Chelsea to chase Higuain

Chelsea may not have been destination for many of Europe’s top players after the turbulent sacking of Andre Villas Boas and the chance that the Blues may not play Champions League football next season.

All that changed last week when the Blues did what no English or European football club has been able to do for two years – beat Barcelona over 2 legs in the Champions League.

Now, the big names and big agents will consider Stamford Bridge.

Which is why perhaps The Sun in an exclusive report (https://bit.ly/IsKy4k) claims that the Blues are ready to make a £35million summer swoop for Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain.

Higuain is being looked at by owner Roman Abramovich as the replacement for  Didier Drogba, who is likely to quit this summer.
The Sun report quoted a top Chelsea source as saying: “Higuain is top of the shopping list.

“He has a phenomenal goalscoring record for Real and for Argentina but he helps make lots of goals too.

“He would be perfect for us, the sort of player who would thrive in the Premier League.”

Higuain has scored 25 goals in 51 games this season with eight assists.

Higuain also scored a hat-trick in Argentina’s 4–1 win over South Korea in the 2010 World Cup finals.

He was the first player to score a hat-trick in the tournament since 2002.