Soccer for Peace

The battle for the Premier League title has started before a ball has even been kicked. The arrival of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jose Mourinho at United has intensified the rivalry between the red and blue half of Manchester with the clubs tightly placed in the title betting.

Pep was introduced to the City fans last week but has yet to really delve into the transfer market. Here are five players that could be wearing the blue of City before the season gets underway.

Yaya Touré has been rumoured to leave Manchester City in the summer due to the arrival of manager Pep Guardiola.

It is quite apparent that Guardiola does not rate Touré and it was one of the important reasons behind the sale of the former Barcelona midfielder. Guardiola was the manager of Barcelona when the club decided to sellTouré to Manchester City for £ 24 million. Since then,Touré has proven to be one of the best buys for City, although there have been times when he has been at his absolute worst.

Former Liverpool and Chelsea midfielder will be playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv next season after the 36-year old player signed a contract that will see him stay with the club for one year.

He will be leaving Maccabi Haïfa, where he spent 2 seasons, and it looks like his last match with Maccabi Haifa was the Israel Cup where his team won 1-0, securing the second trophy for Yossi Benayoun during his time with the Maccabi Haifa.

Joselu, the Germany born Spanish striker, has ripped into Manchester City and Yaya Toure in particular for the absence of energy in the away leg of the recent European tie against Real Madrid.

Recollecting how Toure had absolutely butchered his team Stoke City with his energy in one of the Premiership games in April, Joselu wondered why the legendary midfielder was so within himself playing at Bernabeu.

Joselu believes if there was a night where the high level of energy had to be shown and a hell of a lot of running was required, it was that night as it could have earned City something they never had before which is the ticket to the European final.

Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini has once again spoken about the possibility of signing midfielder Yaya Touré from Manchester City.

Touré was at his imperious best when he played under Mancini. He has never been the same under Manuel Pellegrini. Several conflicting actions between the club and the player seemed to have deteriorated their relationship to a point of no return. Mancini’s relationship with Inter though could have a defining moment in the potential move of the player. This is after the club failed to qualify for the Champions League once again despite spending a lot of money.