News Round-up

- The first team drew 1-1 away at Barnsley this afternoon. By the sounds of it we had the lion's share of possession and chances, falling behind in the 82nd minute to a Daniel Bogdanovic goal before a late equaliser from Martin Petrov. Kolo Toure hobbled off with a slight knock just after the hour. The side was as follows - Given, Richards, Toure (McGiven 64), Onuoha (Ben Haim 45), Garrido (Zabaleta 45), Wright-Phillips (Weiss 69), De Jong, Ireland, Robinho, Adebayor (Petrov 78), Bellamy.

- A City XI featuring a mix of reserve and academy players lost 0-2 at Rotherham. Ryan Taylor and Tom Pope with the goals for the Millers. Ben Mee, Clayton McDonald, Karl Moore, Adam Clayton & David Ball all played.

- To wrap up a disappointing weekend the Academy were beaten 0-2 by Coventry on Friday.

- Released full-back Curtis Obeng has signed for Blue Square Premier side Wrexham, joining Adrian Cieslewicz, who also left the club recently.

- The club are said to be preparing a final 'take it or leave it' offer of around £22m for Everton defender Joleon Lescott. I'd be tempted to not go too far above that, to be honest. We do need one more at the back, but not at any cost. There are plenty of viable alternatives, in my opinion. In turn, Everton are being linked with a move for Arsenal's Philippe Senderos.

- We're still being linked with a £10m move for Leeds starlet Fabian Delph. Mark Hughes confirmed after the Barnsley game that we are looking at the player. He's a terrific prospect, but not sure he'd see too much action here at present. Perhaps any move might involve a season back at Leeds on loan.

- Also on the radar are said to be Chelsea's Alex and Newcastle's Sebastien Bassong. Both are good players, but perhaps not what we're looking for. Bassong has impressed me whenever i've seen him play but i think we're looking for a more established player to come into the side alongside Kolo Toure. Bassong would be a useful addition to the squad, and like Lescott could fill in at left-back, too, but Upson or Hangeland would be more what we're looking for, in my opinion. I'm not sure Alex would be available. He played well when in for Carvalho last season, and i expect him and former target John Terry to be first choice there this year.