Media round-up: Saturday, 15th October

Roberto Mancini insists he is hopeful that Nigel de Jong will agree a new contract at the club soon, according to The Daily Telegraph. Mancini said: “Nigel is an important player for us. He had a big problem being injured for 40 days, but now he is OK and we hope we can close a deal with him in the next week or month.”

Mino Raiola, the agent of Mario Balotelli, has confirmed what we already knew by dismissing talk of the striker joining Napoli. "It was just a comment in response to a question," Raiola said. "He chose Manchester City and has never said he will leave."

Shay Given joins a long list of Mark Hughes' loyalists in criticising Roberto Mancini's man-management methods after he was overlooked in favour of Joe Hart. "There was no explanation," Given sobbed to The Times. "That's the way he manages. He distances himself from players."

Elsewhere, Ryan Giggs (who you'd think would be keeping a low media profile at the moment) has declared that Chelsea, rather than City, are United's main title rivals. In the run up to next week's derby expect to see more United has beens rolled out to dismiss the Blues. Mix and match any of the following in your own game of United cliche bingo: Paddy Crerand, Arthur Albiston, Paul Scholes; "they don't have our history", "you can't buy team spirit", "this is their cup final". Etc and so on.