NotW medley

Four interesting stories in today's News of the World about City:

• Most prominent, and least credible, is that we're interested in Emmanuel Adebayor, and will pay £21million for him. This sounds to me like simple agent-stirring; other managers like to link themselves to City for the publicity (Mancini, Klinsmann etc), and so do players. It (clearly) gets them in the papers and drives their price up. Can you think of a Premier League centre forward Hughes would be less interested in than Adebayor, given his work rate this season? Me neither.

• Then there's the good news that Nedum Onuoha is on the brink of signing a new deal. He's been one of the best things about this season, finally turning into a player of the quality many knew he possessed. But could a new deal for Nedum signal the end of Richard Dunne at City? I'd be surprised if they were both first choice next season.

• A defender who has not fulfilled his potential this year is Micah Richards - but Hughes has quashed reports that he's to be sold in the summer. Apparently we need more players with an 'empathy for the club', in the interest of team unity and so forth. I agree with him on theory, but I would say two things: Danny Sturridge has come through the Academy but doesn't exactly seem to be full of 'empathy for the club' at the moment, so it's not always that simple. And Pablo Zabaleta is a much better right back than Micah Richards. But that's not in itself a reason to get rid.

• If you ever want a sleepless night, think of Stephen Ireland's unsigned contract and remind yourself that he was a United fan as a boy. David Harrison puts two and two together and says that Ferguson wants Ireland as the long term replacement for Paul Scholes (I'm sure he said recently that Anderson was to be that.) This means that we're going to rush the deal through and get it done ASAP. If he goes to United I'm giving up on football.