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Preamble: Good day, all. Let’s talk stereotypes, shall we? Blackburn: Huffing, puffing long-ball merchants; set-piece loving anti-footballers; more Brutalist than a 1960s multi-storey car park; as grittily northern as pies, chips, gravy and the world t’ (as in “I’m just putting on t’kettle, love”). Arsenal: Frustratingly ineffectual aesthetes; softer than Fairy liquid; pass-pass-pass-stop-to-admire-the-fragile-beauty-of-a-passing butterfly-pass-pass-pass; more southern (France) than vins de pays d’Oc. Me: Cynical, seen-it-all-before MBM-type; rage-fuelled pseudo-wordsmith; passive aggressive. You: Boorish; tribal; anorak-like football obsessives.

Let’s do this.

• Brian Marwood warns striker to stop looking for move
• Adebayor unhappy at lack of first team chances

Emmanuel Adebayor was warned today by Manchester City that he must compete for a place in Roberto Mancini’s expensively assembled team and stop agitating for a move if he is not selected.

The club’s senior football administrator, Brian Marwood, in Monaco for today’s Europa League group stage draw, dismissed Adebayor’s public complaint that he would “definitely” look for another club if he does not regularly feature in the first team – despite having been at City for only one season following his £25m move from Arsenal.

“These players need to realise that if you are paying them, they are salaried, contracted and have obligations to their football club,” Marwood said. “They are part of the squad. They have to work hard to prove they are worth a place in the team. We are trying to create a very competitive environment at Manchester City. “

Adebayor admitted today that he would give serious consideration to severing his ties with City because of the growing sense that he will feature only intermittently in a season of change for English football’s most powerful spenders.

“The season is going to be very long and very difficult for myself,” he told TalkSport. “I’m a footballer and have to keep going and not give up. I need to keep fighting for myself and enjoying my football. But if I’m not playing, and there is a team that comes in for me, then I will definitely be on my way out because I’m a footballer and I love playing.

“So if I don’t have a chance to play here there will be a lot of chance to play somewhere else. If they force you out then you always have to follow your destiny.”

Marwood was speaking after City were drawn in a Europa League group with Juventus, the Polish club Lech Poznan and FC Salzburg from Austria. Describing the prospect of meeting Juventus as “a mouth-watering tie” which “makes you realise you are in a top European competition”, Marwood said City need a squad full of top-class players to cope with the number of matches the club will play this season. He said he understood the frustrations of Adebayor and the goalkeeper Shay Given when they did not feature in the first team, because as a player at Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday Marwood himself had to battle for selection.

“Emmanuel is no different to Shay Given, to other players in the squad who want to be playing,” he said. “I understand that. I’ve been there myself. It’s frustrating. But if we are to have a successful season we need to have depth in our squad, and Roberto will rotate his squad how he sees fit.”

Adebayor started both legs of the Europa League qualifier against Timisoara but has been a substitute for their two Premier League games, and when Mancini brought on a striker to replace Carlos Tevez against Liverpool on Monday it was Jô rather than the former Arsenal player.

That has led Adebayor to wonder how much of a contribution he will make this season, even though City have already loaned another forward, Craig Bellamy, to Cardiff City and are prepared to move on Roque Santa Cruz.

Mancini, however, still regards Adebayor as an important squad player and potential buyers will be informed he is not available if there are any inquiries before the transfer window closes on Tuesday. Despite the £120m City have spent this summer, Mancini is not overly stocked with strikers, having failed with a summer move for Edin Dzeko of Wolfsburg and abandoned hope of luring Fernando Torres from Liverpool.

Mario Balotelli, the £22.5m signing from Internazionale, is regarded more as a left-sided attacker, leaving only Adebayor and Jô as natural back-up if Tevez, the club’s principal striker, is injured. Mancini has been operating a 4-3-2-1 system, with Tevez spearheading the attack, and that could mean Adebayor is absent again when they play at Sunderland on Sunday, the second anniversary of Sheikh Mansour’s takeover.

Robinho is expected to leave Manchester, with Mancini saying there are “two or three choices” for the Brazilian to resurrect his career in Spain or Italy.

Marwood, however, said there have been no firm offers for Robinho and that if he stays at City, he will be included in Mancini’s 25-player first team squad.

• Fulham’s young No1 to be included for Euro 2012 qualifiers
• Robert Green’s exile continues after World Cup blunder

Fabio Capello is set to hand the Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale a surprise call-up to the England squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland, as back-up to Joe Hart and Ben Foster, when he names his first competitive squad tomorrow since the debacle endured at the World Cup finals.

Stockdale, 24, has only three Premier League appearances to date having been thrust into the first-team in Mark Schwarzer’s absence, apparently with a back injury but with his desire to move to Arsenal well known. He has spent loan spells at Rotherham, Leicester and Plymouth but impressed the watching Capello with his display in Fulham’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United last Sunday.

His inclusion effectively casts Robert Green, first-choice ahead of the tournament in South Africa, into the international wilderness. But the likes of Peter Crouch, bolstered by a hat-trick in Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League qualifier against Young Boys in midweek, and Jermain Defoe, are expected to earn recalls having been omitted for the 2-1 friendly victory over Hungary this month. Defoe had been expected to undergo surgery on a groin problem on Tuesday, though that operation has now been cancelled, with the striker keen to play for England.

That will be considered a fillip as Capello seeks to rebuild his own reputation and that of the national squad following their failings in the summer. The Italian made a tolerable start to that project with the win over Hungary, but a narrow victory in a friendly is no proof of rejuvenation. Bulgaria, at Wembley next Friday, and Switzerland four days later will provide sterner tests.

It is not so simple for Capello to give youth its head in a competitive environment. The left-back Kieran Gibbs came off the bench to make his international debut this month but he has yet to get off the bench for Arsenal this season. Then again, Capello will see value in retaining the services of the 20-year-old.

However, the 18-year-old Jack Wilshere who has made it into Arsène Wenger’s line-up for the two Premier League games so far, has been sent back to the Under-21 side. Capello could improve the quality of his line-up by looking to the other end of the footballers’ age range. Paul Scholes retired from international football in 2004 but suggested he might have gone to the World Cup finals if approached earlier.

Scholes’s return now verges on the inconceivable. Instead of committing himself to the fixed period of a tournament, he would have to appear in England qualifiers and, at 35, run the risk of being rested by Manchester United for the following domestic fixture. Sir Alex Ferguson cannot envisage him seeking any further caps and, even if Scholes did decide to resume his international career, Capello would surely be sceptical about the prospects of the then 37-year-old Scholes being of service at the 2012 finals.

Mikel Arteta is another who will not be called into the squad, though Capello had been moved to clarify the Spaniard’s desire to represent England and whether he favoured applying for British citizenship. The Everton midfielder, however, has yet to submit a claim for a passport, a process that would take a minimum of six months, and there are reservations within the Football Association – and the England management team – over selecting a Spanish player.

England squad (possible): Hart, Foster, Stockdale; G Johnson, Jagielka, Terry, Upson, Dawson, Cahill, A Cole, Gibbs; Lennon, Walcott, Lampard, Gerrard, Barry, Huddlestone, A Johnson, Milner; Rooney, Crouch, Defoe, Zamora.

• Roy Hodgson acts quickly to sign 27-year-old midfielder
• Portuguese seen as ideal replacement for Javier Mascherano

Liverpool have moved quickly to replace Javier Mascherano by agreeing a £10.7m package with Porto tonight for the Portugal international Raul Meireles.

Meireles, one of Portugal’s more impressive players at the World Cup, is understood to have agreed personal terms and, if everything goes to plan, the deal will be completed over the weekend, dependent on the 27-year-old passing a medical examination.

The transfer was rushed through this evening after Mascherano finally got his wish to leave Anfield, joining Barcelona in a £20m deal that freed up the money for Liverpool to bring in a cheaper replacement.

Meireles is available for a low fee because he only has two years of his contract left and Porto have been trying to sell him rather than risk losing him on a free transfer in the future.

The player has been prominently linked with Manchester United over the past month but does not fit into the club’s policy under the Glazer family of not signing players for big money if they are aged 26 or above, Dimitar Berbatov being the exception to the rule.

Liverpool do not operate with such restrictions and the manager Roy Hodgson will hope Meireles can make his debut in the league game at Birmingham City on 12 September.

• Birmingham fail to agree personal terms with winger
• French midfielder had been expected to seal £9m move

Birmingham have confirmed the that talks with the Wigan winger Charles N’Zogbia over his transfer have broken down.

Birmingham had agreed a club-record fee to sign the France international, believed to be around £9m, but they failed to reach agreement over his personal terms after a last-minute hitch.

Birmingham’s manager, Alex McLeish, told bcfc.com: “We did everything that was asked of us and then the goalposts were moved at the last minute.

“It was very important to us as a club to stick to our principals and look after the long-term interests of Birmingham City as we are custodians of the club.

“We remain ambitious and committed to adding extra quality to the playing squad but this deal became one that was not in the interests of the club.

“The Board worked with me extremely hard to try and get this one over the line and I thank them for their support.”

• Lucrative offer for midfielder may tempt Upton Park board
• Striker Victor Obinna arrives on loan from Internazionale

Avram Grant is confident that with only four days left until the transfer window shuts Scott Parker wants to stay, although the West Ham United manager accepts there is an outside chance the midfielder may leave for Tottenham Hotspur. Grant confirmed that the Nigeria forward Victor Obinna has signed on a season’s loan from Internazionale.

Spurs’ qualification for the Champions League group stages this week heightened the requirement for Harry Redknapp to add depth to his squad and the manager retains an interest in signing Parker, having had an £8m bid rejected earlier this summer.

West Ham have continually said Parker is not for sale. If a lucrative offer was made for the 29-year-old, which David Gold and David Sullivan, the owners, accepted, it would leave Grant struggling to replace the midfielder before the transfer deadline on Tuesday.

When this was put to the Israeli he said: “We didn’t think about any other situation. Because of [new] players like Obinna, [Pablo] Barrera and Winston Reid they need experience [around them] here in the Premier League and we agreed they need a player like Scott Parker. But in football anything can happen.”

Parker is yet to sign the improved deal that was offered to him earlier this month. Grant said: “As far as I know the club wants him [to stay] for a long, long time and Scott wants to stay here so he’s part of our project for the next year. We are looking to develop young players and we also need players like Scott. There are not many like Scott here.”

West Ham have lost their opening two league fixtures and face a difficult trip to Manchester United tomorrow, followed by the visit of Chelsea following the international break. Defeat to the champions of the last two seasons is a real possibility, raising the spectre of the club reaching mid-September without a point.

Grant said: “It’s a big challenge and the players need to look at it like that. If you don’t take any hard situation as a challenge you cannot succeed. Not in sport and not in life. Manchester United are a better team than West Ham but it’s not always the better team that wins. We need to do a few things to make life not easy for them.”

Regarding Obinna, who is on a season-long loan and played for Nigeria in the World Cup, Grant said: “He’s quick, young [23], he has the qualities which are good for us because we needed quicker players in [our] forwards.”

Grant would not be drawn on speculation that he hopes to sign David Trezeguet from Juventus but did say he is still in the market for another striker, and a right-back.

He added: “I cannot answer about Trezeguet or others. There are a few areas that we don’t have players at all so this [forward and right-back] is our first priority. But in any position if there are players that can be good for us [we are interested] because we have a long season.”

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• Italians lose European Super Cup final 2-0 to Atlético Madrid
• Not enough time with returning World Cup players, says Spaniard

Rafael Benítez feels he has not had long enough with his players at Internazionale after losing his first competitive match last night, when the European champions were beaten 2-0 by Atlético Madrid in the European Super Cup final in Monaco.

Goals from José Antonio Reyes after 62 minutes and a simple tap-in from Sergio Aguëro seven minutes from time gave the Europa League holders a surprise win over the Italians – who won the treble last season – at the Stade Louis II.

Afterwards Benítez, who replaced José Mourinho in the summer, admitted that Inter were not at the level they need to be and cited a lack of preparation time with some of his World Cup players.

“Some things we will need to do in the same way as we did before and change the way we do some other things,” said the former Liverpool manager. “It’s clear we will need some time, but how long you never know. We have not had much time since the World Cup with the players. We were not at the level we needed to be against a team that was physically stronger and very good tactically.”

Benítez added that Inter’s Champions League group, which sees them alongside Tottenham, Werder Bremen and FC Twente, is potentially dangerous. “It’s a really difficult group,” he said. “There is not a big difference between the teams and that can be dangerous. This will be very tough.”

Inter’s disappointing night was completed when Diego Milito, who scored both goals when his side beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in May, saw a 90th-minute penalty saved by the Atlético keeper David de Gea.

Both teams fielded 10 of the 11 starters who brought them European trophies last season, but Inter looked a shadow of the side who lifted the European Cup.

Atlético took the lead when Inter failed to clear the ball on the edge of the area and it fell to Reyes, the former Arsenal striker, who glided past Maicon with a neat touch and drove a shot into the bottom left corner before Aguëro sealed the victory with the second late on.