Big-spending Manchester City have almost inevitably been linked with the biggest spending of the January 2011 transfer window, having offered a reported £27m for Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko from German side Wolfsburg.

However, City have also been the subject of more unwelcome headlines concerning pugilistic activities between first-team squad members on their training ground.

And they came under fire too for their on-field tactics in grinding out a 0-0 draw at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium earlier this week.

 

The 24-year-old Dzeko has scored 66 goals in just over 100 games for Wolfsburg, helping them to the Bundesliga title in 2009.

City’s Italian supremo Roberto Mancini said this week that the clubs had agreed a fee for the striker, who scored twice against Manchester United in last season’s Champions League.

Dzeko was this week described by Wolfsburg and former England boss Steve McLaren as “ideal for City, especially alongside Carlos Tevez. That will be a very potent partnership.”

If the deal goes through, Dzeko will enter a training camp with a little too much fighting spirit.

Former Arsenal colleagues Kolo Toure and Emanuel Adebayor had a training ground confrontation this Tuesday, the latest of a series of public spats between the two players and the latest in a series of training ground spats at City this season, all co-incidentally caught on camera.

Previous bust-ups involved Kolo’s brother Yaya against James Milner and striker Mario Balotelli against the world.

Meanwhile, Mancini had to defend his side’s ultra-defensive tactics in search of a point at Arsenal the day after the training ground row.

City failed to muster a shot on-target in ninety minutes. But Mancini said: “I prefer one point and being booed than no points and being applauded off the pitch.

“I like to play football better than we did on this occasion. But after the first 15 minutes Arsenal were mostly taking shots from distance, so that shows that we defended well.”

Both sides finished the match with ten men after City defender Pablo Zabaleta was involved in an alleged exchange of headbutts with Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna.