City unveil Aguero in Dublin

THERE was no doubt about who was the star of the warm-up show at the Aviva Stadium yesterday, as Manchester City unveiled their new €40 million man, Sergio Aguero.

Unfortunately, the superstar won’t be featuring in the Dublin Super Cup this weekend, City boss Roberto Mancini saying the player needs time to rest and then resume training after his efforts for Argentina in the Copa America.

For his part, Aguero said getting over the fatigue won’t be a problem. “In five years I have only had one holiday so I’m used to it,” he said. “One week of rest and a couple of days of training and I’ll be ready to play.”

Mancini went on to reveal that the acquisition of the former Atletico Madrid man is not the final piece in the City jigsaw this season. “We still want to get a midfielder and another winger,” he said. “If we want to compete with the top teams, in the Premiership and England, we need other players.”

Mancini’s sunny smile, as the new man posed in the sky blue shirt, was rather weaker when asked, inevitably, if Aguero’s arrival would hasten the exit of fellow Argentinian Carlos Tevez.

“Carlos remains part of the first team squad,” said Mancini. “Carlos for us is an important player but anything can happen in the next few days. But if Carlos stays, I am happy.”

As the inaugural Dublin Super Cup kicks off today, Cork City’s Danny Murphy is included in Damien Richardson’s starting Airtricity XI team for the game against Manchester City, the manager trusting a core of Derry City players to meet the challenge of one of the world’s wealthiest clubs with a line-up which reads: Doherty, Madden, Greacan, McEleney, Murphy, O’Brien, Molloy (capt), Higgins, McClean, Zayed and Kavanagh.

Much of the attention will be focussed on Derry’s James McClean, with Richardson optimistic the highly-rated Derry winger will have recovered from a dead leg.

McClean, already linked with Wigan, Reading, Blackpool and Peterborough, can also expect to be closely monitored by Celtic this weekend.

Neil Lennon yesterday admitted the club were very aware of the player, his smiling refusal to be drawn into any further detail on the matter suggesting it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that the winger could find himself following former Derry City men Paddy McCourt and Neil McGinn to Celtic Park.

The Celtic manager also took the opportunity to address the issue of Anthony Stokes’ vexed relations with the Irish national team under Giovanni Trapattoni.

The Dublin-born striker recently suggested that he didn’t expect to see any further action in the green shirt under the Italian, but his club manager reckons Stokes still has an international future.

“I think he has the talent for it but whether he can persuade Mr Trapattoni is another thing,” said Lennon. “In terms of clarifying the position at the end of last season, he was saying he was fatigued and I think he had a few personal issues to contend with as well as regards his family.’’

Lennon went on to say that today’s meeting with Inter Milan will have obvious resonance for old fans of the club weaned on the legend of Lisbon ‘67 and what the manager called “the greatest day in the club’s history”.

But the questions which proliferated for manager Gian Piero Gasperini all concerned the status of Samuel Eto and Wesley Sneijder, with the latter still being heavily linked with a move to Manchester United.

But beyond confirming that Sneijder will play today, Gasperini was reluctant to get bogged down in transfer speculation, especially when asked if the club would use the opportunity this weekend to discuss a move for Carlos Tevez to the San Siro.

“We will talk football with City on Sunday, we are here to play a match,” he said. “The transfer window is open until August 31st but what’s important is the reality of things – and the reality is that Carlos Tevez is a Manchester City player. Similarly, the reality is that Wesley and Samuel are with us here. Inter is a big enough club to keep them but that decision will be up to the president.’’

Dublin Super Cup schedule — Today: Airtricity XI v Man City (2pm); Inter Milan v Celtic (4.30).

Tomorrow: Airtricity XI v Celtic (2pm), Inter Milan v Man City (4.30).