Adebayor ready to quit but City deny receiving any approach from Italy

(GETTY IMAGES)

Manchester City will be open to offers for Emmanuel Adebayor in January, though the club has received no contact from Juventus about a loan deal.

Roberto Mancini's selection of Jo ahead of the 26-year-old for Sunday's 4-0 win over Fulham drives another nail into his City career. Adebayor was quoted by the Belgian magazine Sport/Foot yesterday saying that City had "already reached an agreement with Juventus for a loan [and] I would therefore expect to be able to leave." City are unsure of the provenance and validity of the quotes, but Adebayor is clearly among the contingent of City players who are unhappy to have been on the sidelines under Mancini and he, like Shaun Wright-Phillips, seems destined to join the summer clear-out.

Adebayor, who has started only six games this season, will face a major impediment to a move to Juventus, whom City meet in their final Europa League group game next month. Changes to the Serie A quota system which came into effect this summer, dictate that clubs may sign only one non-EU player every year. Adebayor could be signed if Juventus were to sell the Serb Milos Krasic, who arrived in the summer and who has performed well for Luigi del Neri in his first season in Turin.

City marginally outplayed Manchester United when the two clubs' reserve sides drew 1-1 last night at Hyde. United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sent out an inexperienced side and 19-year-old winger Cameron Stewart proved the best of the players on display, winning the first-half penalty which Will Keane took and converted on the rebound. John Guidetti then scored from the spot for City's Elite Development Squad after Oliver Gill's foul on Alex Nimely, who made his first-team debut at Burnley for Roberto Mancini's side last April.

The Fulham midfielder Dickson Etuhu has told his brother Kelvin to leave City and join him at Craven Cottage. The City winger is way down the pecking order at Eastlands and has not started a game since completing his loan spell at Cardiff City last season. His brother has said a switch to team up again with Mark Hughes would be beneficial. "I would encourage my brother to come here on loan. The manager knows him well," he said. "It's hard for him to get into the team [at Manchester City], but he has to deal with it or move on."

Meanwhile, Aston Villa winger Marc Albrighton will be out for up to four weeks after undergoing an operation to remove his appendix. The 21-year-old fell ill ahead of Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Blackburn and was subsequently diagnosed with appendicitis.

A statement on the club's website said: "Marc Albrighton has undergone an operation to remove his appendix, which will rule him out of action for three to four weeks."

Albrighton has enjoyed a breakthrough season at Villa Park, emerging as a regular in manager Gérard Houllier's first team and establishing himself as a firm fans' favourite with his tireless displays. The academy product's impressive performances were rewarded earlier this month when he signed a contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2014.