• Premier League

VdV warns Mancini over City egos

ESPN staff
November 1, 2011
Rafael van der Vaart: "The difficulty is they have a lot of egos." © Getty Images
Enlarge

Rafael van der Vaart has warned Roberto Mancini that he will have to massage the egos at Manchester City if they are to remain at the top of the Premier League.

City have made a stunning start to the season and reinforced their credentials as title challengers with a 6-1 mauling of Manchester United.

Tottenham star Van der Vaart has been glowing in his praise of City, but feels the test will come when some of the big names are left out of the side for extended periods.

"The difficulty is they have a lot of egos so maybe that's going to be a problem," Van der Vaart said. "It's a huge problem when you have too many big stars.

"At this moment City are really good and winning games easily. The way they beat Manchester United 6-1 was very impressive."

Van der Vaart has first-hand knowledge of such a scenario, having been in the mix at Real Madrid, and feels it could prove to be City's downfall.

He said: "When you play for a big team and they buy a lot of good players, a lot of other players are also unhappy.

"At Madrid we had six Dutch players and we were all gone within about six months or so. The same could happen at City - look at Emmanuel Adebayor. He is a great player for Tottenham after joining us on loan and he was not even in the squad, he was training with the kids.

"That tells you everything. He is a great player and was not even allowed to play with them."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices