New signing Aleksandr Kolarov believes he can challenge for Premier League and Champions League honours with Manchester City.

The Serbia full-back became ambitious City's latest big-money signing when he joined in a £19million deal from Lazio on Saturday.

Manager Roberto Mancini had already signed David Silva, Yaya Toure and Jerome Boateng this summer, with Kolarov's arrival increasing his spending to approximately £75million since the end of last season.

"I'm very excited to be here at a great club like Manchester City. Even the training ground is fantastic, better than Lazio's," he told the club's official website.

"I'm coming back early next week to train with the players who aren't touring America. I want to start as soon as I can, and I can't wait to meet all the other guys.

"I had the opportunity to join other teams – the names are not important. When I spoke with Mr Mancini, my choice was Manchester City because I know they are a good team. I think maybe a great team.

"The Premier League is the best in the world and he wants us to go further and win the Premier title and the Champions League.

"For a young player like me, this is the best opportunity. It's the dream."

Meanwhile, Mancini has denied suggestions that the arrival of Kolarov will lead to the departure of current left-back Wayne Bridge.

Liverpool are reported to be keen on signing England international Bridge.

"'I want two top-class players for each position," explained Mancini.

"I first saw Kolarov in his Lazio debut back in 2007. I have watched him a lot since then and so have the Manchester City scouts.

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"His attacking capability is very good. He is fast and can shoot with power and accuracy.

"He also has the ability to play in numerous positions and is very good in midfield.

"This is an additional benefit to the team. He has a fantastic international career ahead of him. I am looking forward to working with him."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

New kits and plenty of transfer talk has engulfed White Hart Lane this week. Luis Fabiano is the latest striker to express an interest in a move to Tottenham, as he finally realises the size and the ambitions of the football club.

This week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag of Spurs blogs which has included…3rd time luck for Harry; The JJ ship has sailed and enterprising Tottenham start a new trend.

Plus we have taken a look at the best Tottenham stories on the Web this week.

Clearly no shame as he invites Tottenham move

Harry’s legacy to travel further afield than just Tottenham

Hip Hip Heurelho!

Will it be 3rd time lucky for Harry as Dutchman eyes PL move?

Enterprising Tottenham set to start a new trend?

How KPB went from Tottenham reject to national hero

Hasn’t the JJ ship already sailed at Tottenham?

A blow for United and Spurs, but equally for Capello

Which club represents the best move for Craig Bellamy?

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Best of Web

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It’s happening again – Dear Mr Levy

Blank Cheques Ahoy! Your Transfer Wishes – Who Framed Ruel Fox?

Strike up the band – Spurs Musings from Jimmy G2

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Hotspur History – The Moment We All Believed – Triffic Tottenham

Pre-season – introducing some unfamiliar names – Windy’s Blog

Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer

While it was by no means a thrilling performance, Arsenal will be pleased with their 1-1 draw at Anfield on Sunday, particularly as they were minutes away from defeat. So what conclusions can we draw from the game about Arsenal at this early stage in the season?

1. A new keeper has to be brought in

I mentioned this in a previous article, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record it has to be reiterated that Arsene Wenger must bring in a goalkeeper this summer if Arsenal want to mount a strong challenge for the Premier League title. Sunday’s game merely served to confirm Arsenal fan’s already well founded fears that Manuel Almunia is not good enough. He flapped badly at a number of crosses and failed to stamp his authority in the area. Although David Ngog’s goal was well struck, a better goalkeeper would have fancied his chances of saving the Frenchman’s shot. There is still time for Wenger to act this transfer window, and he must do so quickly if Arsenal are to be serious contenders this season.

2. Koscielny looks impressive

Laurent Koscielny made his Premier League bow in one of the toughest arenas in England, yet he already looked totally comfortable at this level. Admittedly he did not have a top class striker playing against him, but he looked calm, composed and solid on his debut. Fernando Torres appeared to have the beating of him on a couple of occassions but he showed his pace and quickly got back to snuff out the danger. His game was soured by a sending off, but the decision seemed very harsh indeed and it does not yet present a cause for concern. Although it is very early in the season, Koscielny is already looking like a shrewd acquisition by Arsene Wenger.

3. Rosicky can be an asset this season

If he manages to remain fit, Tomas Rosicky could have a big part to play for Arsenal this season. The Czech midfielder showed some excellent touches when he came on against Liverpool. He delivered a dangerous cross which Vermaelen headed wide, and was unlucky not to score after a superb jinking run into the box was followed by a shot that was excellently saved by Pepe Reina. To date Rosicky has been dogged by injuries during his Arsenal career but if he can stay fit for the majority of the season he could be an effective player for the club.

4. The defence still looked a bit shaky

For the most part the Arsenal backline looked solid. The defenders were not caught high up the pitch as they have been on previous occassions, and Koscielny and Vermaelen looked to form a good partnership in central defence. Gael Clichy looked suspect on a couple of occassions but he also cleared a Ngog header off the line. What was negative was the manner in which the goal was given away, a breakdown in communication and a poor pass gave away possession, and Liverpool quickly made them pay. Arsenal have been guilty of making these kind of mistakes in recent years and they will need to try and eradicate them from their game to avoid conceding cheap goals.

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5. Fabregas was missed

The Arsenal midfield dominated Liverpool’s in the first half and towards the end of the second half, with acres of space often being found by the Gunners’ midfielders. There was a lack of clear cut chances created however and Marouane Chamakh did not have an awful lot to feed on. Arsenal missed Fabregas’ ability to play a killer pass and had he played the result might well have been different. Keeping Cesc Fabregas has been a huge shot in the arm for Arsenal and he will undoubtedly have a big role to play this season.

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England injury absentee John Terry has revealed he has been struggling with a hamstring problem since the World Cup.

The Chelsea captain will miss the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland after aggravating the problem during Saturday's 2-0 Premier League victory over Stoke City.

"I have had a bit of a problem since the World Cup and I was hoping after the World Cup that I would have two weeks off and it would completely go away," Terry told the club's official website.

"But that wasn't the case and, coming back working hard, it came back on."

Terry played in the last England international against Hungary at Wembley on August 8 where he managed just 45 minutes of the 2-1 friendly victory.

He added:"I had to come off at half-time because of it.

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"I have not made it public but I have been struggling with it and maybe I just need 10 days' rest to fully get over it because it could impact on my season."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

The garden is not very rosy in the Adebayor household at the moment. It’s only just over a year into his would-be glittering Manchester City career, and already his sulking demeanour is becoming more and more prominent. Left on the bench, as Roberto Mancini opts for a single striker, and now injured, the BBC’s worst pundit (more of that later) is struggling to feel the love.

There have always been personalities in football who need to be treated with a little more care, and given a little extra leeway in order to get the best out them. This however, only really works when that same player is indispensible to the club, and also can put the club’s interests ahead of their own. Paolo Di Canio at West Ham springs to mind as a good example of this; a man who on his day could single-handedly win a match for his side in conjunction with throwing a diva strop for not getting enough adoration from a referee.

Right now at Manchester City, Roberto Mancini has decided that Emmanuel Adebayor is not as important as the man himself believes. Mario Balotelli has arrived, Fernando Torres was a constant in the rumour mill of the tabloids over the summer, and Carlos Tevez is Mancini’s (rightly in my opinion) preferred choice up front. It has taken a matter of weeks for Adebayor to consider his future; there is no real concern for his employers and their targets, simply his own needs.

Adebayor managed to annoy Arsenal fans during his time in North London, even when he was playing well. Constantly the subject of rumours to the continent, he courted mumblings of moves to AC Milan and Barcelona, while maintaining that he wanted to stay, only to leave for City. If Adebayor was playing at a club where he was by far and away their best player, then a manager would do everything in their power to keep him happy, but why put up with such a childish attitude, when you can play someone else of equal, if not better, ability. Arsene Wenger knew that with the £24m he received from City, he could find a replacement for far less, enter Marouane Chamakh.

While he clearly has some ability, he has never struck me as the most eloquent of fellows (even for footballers) and so I was as startled as every other viewer in the country that the BBC deemed him a viable candidate as a pundit at the World Cup; the incident with his phone was simply embarrassing, and the analysis (if we can call it that) he gave was bordering on the pathetic.

Managers take a punt on Adebayor because they believe they will be able to get a select period of time out of him before his next strop. The turnover of players at City was always going to be vast, and although his return was decent last season (14 PL goals), I don’t think anyone truly imagined he would go onto a glittering City career as a cult legend, more that he would serve a stepping-stone purpose.

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Adebayor is one of football’s mercenaries. Mancini does not have the time, not should he, to have to make special exceptions for a player who frankly isn’t that important to the club’s cause. If Adebayor is prepared to play a subordinate role – behind Tevez and Balotelli – in a professional manner, in the quest for City to make the Champions League, then I will stand corrected. But as I understand it, he is a player no boss really wants to manage.

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In the wake of a dismal World Cup for England, sights were immediately set to the future after the supposed ‘Golden Generation’ had all but eroded and embedded themselves firmly in the footballing annals for England, with many proving to be mere iron pyrite for the national team.

However, the future is blurry to say the least for England, with some promise and good intentions, some discouraging signs and a lot of rudderless talent hoping they don’t slip the net. With the FA and Premier League looking towards the future of the national team with recent changes in squad rules, perhaps it is time they brought someone in to tie all the loose ends together and create an English production line, and in my opinion, they need look no further than Tony Carr.

With nearly 40 years experience in youth coaching at ‘The Academy of Football’ at West Ham, Carr has become one of the most successful and influential youth coaches in the country, not only creating an estimated £80m in transfer revenue for the club, but nurturing these players into international footballers. In Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Glen Johnson, Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick and John Terry, Carr has a ‘Magnificent Seven’ to his name which regularly attain spots in the English national team, and with many more having played at youth levels for their country, it is no wonder so many turned out to honour him in May at a testimonial match held at Upton Park.

The fact that so many did come to show their appreciation reveals the gravity of the man within football and emphasises the respect he commands from all quarters of the game. In Sir Trevor Brooking the FA also have a perfect liaison with Carr with both having been involved at West Ham for most of their lives. Carr would also not necessarily have to be as hands on as he is at West Ham, perhaps advising the FA on youth development in a consultancy role, overseeing and delegating rather than actively coaching.

With the new squad rules taking effect this season, the FA has taken the first tentative steps towards a future which doesn’t include England being cast into the international wilderness. But with some English-based foreign players being counted as ‘Home-Grown’ we can only hope there is more to come from the FA. That said, the performance of the England Under-17s in Liechtenstein, where they lifted the European Championship trophy earlier this year, shows it is not all doom and gloom for the national team and there are promising youngsters in the pipeline.

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But if the likes of Ipswich Town’s Connor Wickham are to grace the future national team and not the pages of ‘Whatever Happened To…’ articles, then there needs to be an experienced man overseeing national youth development, and there is no better candidate than Tony Carr.

Fernando Torres is making good progress in his recovery from his latest injury setback ahead of Sunday's Merseyside derby, according to Liverpool's head of medical Peter Brukner.

The Spain striker limped out of the 2-1 defeat by Blackpool ten days ago with an adductor muscle problem.

However, he has provided under-pressure manager Roy Hodgson with a timely boost after making a return to training.

Torres has struggled with a succession of injury problems during the past 12 months.

The Reds travel to Goodison Park for a massive derby encounter with Everton on Sunday.

Both clubs are struggling towards the foot of the Premier League table following disappointing starts to the season.

"Fernando is doing pretty well. He had a slight tear in one of his adductor muscles very early on in the game against Blackpool that prevented him going away with Spain in the internationals," head of sports science and sports medicine Brukner told the club's official website.

"He has had intense treatment over the last ten days and responded very well to that treatment.

"He's ready to resume training today and if we can build up his training and get through the next few days, then we are optimistic but not certain that he will be able to line up against Everton.

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"It's still early days but so far so good. He has responded well to the treatment but we will just have to wait and see whether he is able to build up his training sufficiently.

"He'll join in the full training session on Thursday, then build up Friday and Saturday. If he gets through these sessions and he is able to stretch out fully and has no after effect from the sessions then he will be able to play.

"So we are optimistic he will be ready but it's still too early to say for sure."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier has told Nigel Reo-Coker to curb his temper, after the former West Ham United star almost got himself into trouble during the 0-0 stalemate with Birmingham City.

Houllier substituted Reo-Coker after the midfielder was involved in a tussle with City's Craig Gardner, but he appeared to be keen to continue the argument when he came on to the pitch after the final whistle.

The Villa boss was unimpressed, saying:"Sometimes when you are tired you lose a bit of control and I didn't want to lose a player. I warned them and wasn't happy with the reaction. He will learn.

"We all know how competitive matches in the Premier League are but the Midlands derbies are maybe more so than others.

"You've got to be strong enough to take it on the chin and go on. In that particular circumstance the referee had whistled and it was a free-kick so we should get on with it."

Of the grim stalemate, the former Liverpool boss admitted:"We could have done better. Maybe it's because it's a derby and it's extremely tense, very tight and competitive.

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"Both teams were extremely committed to the job and didn't allow many chances.

"It's a derby and sometimes they are not allowed to play. Credit to Birmingham they had a clean match. It was physical but not over the top and the referee dealt with the two teams very well."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has admitted he is facing a potential selection dilemma with several players airing their frustrations.

The Potteries club boss has allowed Michael Tonge and Danny Pugh to depart the Britannia Stadium on loan after finding their first-team opportunities limited.

Republic of Ireland international Glenn Whelan is also wanting more game time after dropping down the pecking order, but Pulis is not prepared to let him, or a disgruntled Eidur Gudjohnsen, leave at the moment.

"We have just let Michael Tonge and Danny Pugh go out on loan to Preston because they are desperate to play," he said.

"Players want to play games and you have to understand and recognise that.

"It is very difficult for players to be sat on the sidelines week in, week out. Glenn has played a great part at this football club and we don't want him to go.

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"I understand the situation he is in and the way he is feeling – that is really the right way to be."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Joleon Lescott has admitted he may need to leave Manchester City to preserve his England place.

The former Everton man has failed to assert himself at Eastlands, with City boss Roberto Mancini favouring Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure ahead of him.

He has often been deployed in the left-back position when he has played, but Mancini is now favouring Belgian teenager Dedryck Boyata in this role instead.

With the January transfer window set to open in less than a month, Lescott has admitted he may be forced to seek regular first team football elsewhere.

Speaking about his situation, he said: "I'm not happy with the situation. I don't enjoy sitting on the bench, and sometimes not even making the bench."

Fuelling the rumours about a possible move, he stressed: "That's down to myself and the club. The club might say 'If there's a chance to play, go and play' and, if not, I will have to stay here."

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Lescott joined City last summer for a fee of £24million.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email