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Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is facing an uphill battle to be fit for Saturday’s derby against Manchester United according to City coach David Platt.

The former Inter Milan forward has had a stop-start beginning to his Manchester City career, only making nine appearances, and scoring five goals, since his £24million move last Summer.

The 20-year-old suffered a Knee Injury last month and has spent two-weeks in America undergoing rehabilitation.

Balotelli has returned to Manchester but first-team coach Platt says the match against the Premier League leaders has come too soon.

Platt said: “He’s not trained much yet. Mario came back on Monday, he’s continued with his rehab and so far so good. It’s certainly not a given that he’ll be on the bench against United.”

The Italian’s injury has denied neutrals the chance to watch a potentially explosive meeting between Balotelli and Wayne Rooney.

Balotelli has made comments regarding Wayne Rooney’s talent claiming the Englishman is not the best striker in the North-West.

He said: “He (Rooney) is a very good player but not the best in Manchester.”

Neutrals had hoped to see these two slug it out and prove who is the best, especially with Rooney showing signs of recapturing his goalscoring form.

But the Blues are not short of options in the attacking area with Edin Dzeko, Jo and Carlos Tevez available to manager Roberto Mancini.

Dzeko is in line for a starting place alongside captain Tevez after City officials negotiated a deal with Bosnia-Herzagovina, allowing the ex-Wolfsburg striker to train with his club teammates instead of travelling to the USA for a friendly clash against Mexico.

The latest on the whole Tevez jamboree is that Sheffield United’s players are planning to sue:

At least ten of the players who were relegated with Sheffield United have taken the first step in launching their own multi-million pound legal action against West Ham.

Their Bramall Lane employers are already demanding more than £30million after an independent Football Association tribunal concluded that they should be compensated by West Ham in the wake of the Carlos Tevez scandal.

But now the players who have suffered financially as a result of United’s relegation to the Championship in May 2007 have opened discussions with a leading UK sports lawyer in a bid to make their own claim for compensation. (Daily Mail)

With West Ham facing action not only from Sheffield United but a wave a lawsuits from their players too, you have to wonder just how the club are going to be able to afford it. Alan Curbishley quit over an argument about players being sold, and if the directors felt that the club was in such dire financial shape that players had to be sold, then how do they feel now!?

Well If United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has his way, he may yet add another piece to the puzzle that would surely make every team in the Premiership quake in their boots.

The be-all end-all paper that is The Sun is reporting that United are prepared to use the chaos going over at Blackburn to their advantage. The club is planning a massive bid to take Paraguayan ace, Roque Santa Cruz, out of the turmoil and into the loving arms of SAF.

Manchester United are planning to bid £15 million to lure Santa Cruz to Old Trafford, after Sir Alex Ferguson was persuaded to give up on a bid to sign Thierry Henry. (The Sun)

Surely this is just paper talk, but if this deal were true, could you imagine how scary it would be to go up against a strike group that included Tevez, Rooney and Santa Cruz? I think I see four or five Premiership teams wetting themselves as we speak.

So what’s your take United supporters? Is Santa Cruz the man to push United even further ahead of the pack? Or would you rather see SAF spend the £15m elsewhere?

The Real Madrid forward has hinted that he may leave the Bernabeu in the summer and has revealed interest from the best two teams in England. Perhaps he can act as a makeweight when Cristiano Ronaldo finally decides to leave Manchester for Spain in the next few days.

Real Madrid star Robinho has revealed that he has been offered the chance to join both Chelsea and Manchester United.

The striker has told Brazilian reporters that he will leave El Santiago Bernabeu subject to a suitable offer being made by one of the Premier League giants.

There’s no doubt that the Blues need would be more pressing, especially if Deputy Drog is to leave as expected. While United have Rooney, Tevez and (if he stays) Ronaldo in their artillery, Chelsea will look desperately short, even if Anelka finds the form which has previously made him one of Europe’s most lethal marksmen.

Carlos Tevez has been tearing it up for Manchester United this season, scoring nineteen goals, although his Old Trafford future appears far from certain according to the Manchester Evening News. They report that fellow striker Wayne Rooney is desperate for the Red Devils to sign a permanent deal with his partner in crime, rather than continue to farm him out on loan.

“It is crucial to get him signed and I am sure that will happen,” he said.

“Carlos loves playing football here, he’s enjoying it so I don’t see why it will be a problem.

“We saw him at West Ham what a great player he was and how hard he works for the team,” said the England international.

“I had no doubts that we could play together and from training with him when he first came you could immediately see the qualities he had. I couldn’t wait to play with him.

“Towards the end of the season we didn’t play together a lot, but when we did, we did really well.”

Tevez scored a number of crucial goals for Man United last season, in particular the equalisers in the lleague at Ewood Park and White Hart Lane. Surely it’s a long shot that he’s going anywhere else in the summer?