SOCCER:AFTER A relentless hype of this weekend's tournament at the Aviva Stadium, the organisers of the inaugural Dublin Super Cup must have thought their boat had come in when Sergio Aguero completed his multi-million euro move to Manchester City just in time to be unveiled last night in Dublin.
Sadly for them, the PR god not only gives but takes away. Almost before the English reporters at yesterday’s press conference had hit their stride regarding the implications of the young striker’s arrival for Carlos Tevez’s future, or lack of it, Roberto Mancini had revealed, pretty much as an aside, his latest signing will not make his debut before next weekend’s Community Shield against rivals United.
Aguero was polite and positive about the move, expressing the hope he and City can “grow together”.
But the fact he struggled to remain the focus of attention even here, as he was presented to the press for the first time, should give him some early sense of just what it is he has signed up for.
Mancini, or course, knows only too well. The Italian took in his stride an attempt by the media to move right along to the club’s next big-money target. They are, he observed casually, in the market for a midfielder and a winger while Tevez remains an “important” player. But “I don’t know what can happen in the coming days”.
One rather obvious theory is that officials from City and from Inter will find time over the weekend in Dublin to thrash out a deal for the older Argentine so he can join Gian Piero Gasperini’s squad when it returns from an Italian Super Cup engagement with AC in Beijing next week.
Gasperini was having none of it. And as he politely kicked to touch on just about everything at Inter’s press conference, the show was stolen by Cristian Chivu, the club’s Romanian defender who proved entertaining and insightful. He spoke about Mancini, Aguero and the quality of Italian football.
His star turn was rivalled, though, by the club official who stood at the side of the podium in an Inter tracksuit and carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. He seemed determined almost from the off to bring the proceedings to a speedy conclusion.
Having failed to convey the urgency of the situation with increasingly frantic gesturing towards his watch to his manager and coach, he seized control of the press conference, called for one last question and then emphatically signalled we were done by thanking the press and departing.
Damian Richardson was in no hurry at all to finish, but his best line was probably his first which involved the claim that there was “never any unhappiness” within the Airtricity League squad regarding the way they were being treated this week.
The former Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne boss came out of last year’s friendly against Manchester United poorly, and many of his observations on this weekend’s event have involved attempts both to put a brave face on that 7-1 defeat and to emphasise how different things are this time because of the “competitive” nature of this tournament.
Victories against opposition of this calibre might be far fetched but by tomorrow evening he could do with having something more tangible than a few kind words from an opposite number to show for from the games against Manchester City and Celtic.
For the opening encounter he has named a side that includes seven Derry City players – Ger Doherty, Stewart Greacen, Shane McEleney, Barry Molloy, Ruaidhrí Higgins, James McLean and Eamon Zayed – along with Simon Madden, Ger O’Brien, Danny Murphy and Daryl Kavanagh.
Earlier, Neil Lennon had admitted to keeping an eye on McLean in recent weeks and the Celtic boss declined to rule out a move for the winger.
So even if Tevez’s future isn’t sorted out this weekend, there might be at least one deal done in Dublin over the next couple of days. Whether the football turns out to be the business we shall have to wait to see.
