Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany faces an anxious wait to see if he will be available for the Manchester derby after being spotted making an alleged 'obscene' hand gesture towards the Hull City crowd in his side's 2-0 win at the KC Stadium on Saturday. The Belgian almost bruised the blues' title hopes after being sent off for a blatant pull-back on Nikica Jelavić in the 10th minute of the game and appeared to direct a gesture at the home supporters.
The Guardian reports that the FA may take action following the red card that could rule the captain out of the Manchester derby on the 25th March, and that the footballing body will wait to see if Lee Mason mentions the incident in his report. If the incident is not mentioned, the FA may act independently by studying video footage.
In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, Samir Nasri backed his 'passionate' skipper and said the Belgian's red card made the team even more determined to get a result.
(Samir Nasri believes Manchester City rallied around Kompany's absence and won the game for their captain)
“When your captain gets a red card, you just want to show that you can do it without him and as well do it for him,” said Nasri. “You want to fight to the end and that’s what we did,'' said Nasri.
“Do we only need 10 men? I don’t think so but it was good to show everyone that we are back on track, that when everyone plays for the team, it doesn’t matter if we have 10 or 11, we can win games because we have quality.”
Back to some actual transfer news, and football website Sports Mole believe arch-rivals Manchester United will make an approach for Joleon Lescott at the end of the season. The 31-year-old, whose contract expires in the summer, worked for three years under the management of David Moyes at Everton and reports suggest the Scot will turn to his old employee to fill the gap left by Nemanja Vidić.
(Joleon Lescott could cross the Manchester divide at the end of the season)
Ready to replace Lescott could be Vincent Kompany's Belgian defensive partner Thomas Vermaelen. The out-of-favour Arsenal defender has been reccommended to Manuel Pellegrini by his captain and the Metro believe a summer approach will be made for the 28-year-old.
(Vermaelen has made just 7 appearances in the league for Arsenal this season)
In other news, Sport Witness states that Manchester City sent representatives to watch 23-year-old French target Eliaquim Mangala play against Napoli on Thursday night. The defender, who has been linked heavily with both City and United this season, has been valued at £42.5m by his club FC Porto and reports suggest Manuel Pellegrini will do anything to get hold of his man.
(Manchester City scouts watched the Frenchman play in the Europa League on Thursday night)
And finally, the Manchester Evening News has revealed that Manchester United striker Robin van Persie and coach Phil Neville are happy for their sons to train with Manchester City's youth set-up. Shaqueel van Persie, 7, and Harvey Neville, 11, are both rated as promising prospects.
