It's all Rover for Manchester City as Blackburn reject £12m bid for free-scoring striker Santa Cruz

Blackburn have confirmed they have turned down a bid, thought to be around £12m, from Barclays Premier League rivals Manchester City for striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The Paraguay international was Rovers top scorer last season and has been linked with a number of clubs this summer - including City's neighbours Manchester United.

'A bid came in last night and it was immediately rejected,' read a Blackburn statement.

'Various Manchester City officials have been advised on a number of occasions that the player would not be for sale.

'We are very disappointed, therefore, that they have continued their interest.'

Meanwhile, City boss Mark Hughes' plans for the new season were dealt a blow last night when Darius Vassell was ruled out for 10 weeks with a knee injury.
The Welshman moved quickly to remedy that problem by attempting to sign the man who scored 19 league goals for him last season while Hughes was manager at
Blackburn.

The fee City have offered is believed to be around the £12million mark - over £8.5 million more than Blackburn paid for his services when they signed him from Bayern Munich last summer.

Santa Cruz spent eight years at the German club and has scored 17 goals in the 53 international appearances he has made for Paraguay.

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Olympics: Britain win first gold medal in women's cycling race

Nicole Cooke has won Britain's first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, cycling to victory in the road race.

The 25-year-old Welshwoman was in a group of five that pulled away from the peloton in the 6km uphill climb to the finish through driving rain. She then won a sprint to the line before hoisting her arms in the air in delight.

'We did it, it was perfect. It's a dream come true,' said a jubilant Cooke, who finished in 3 hours, 32 minutes and 24 seconds .


'I want to thank all the people who have been there from the start. I have worked so hard, I am so happy.'

Cooke came fifth in Athens when a lack of supporting team-mates cost her a medal.

But today with Emma Pooley and Sharon Laws she had probably the best British women's team ever assembled.

Simon Clegg, Team GB's chef de mission, said: 'Nicole Cooke has just secured Team GB's first medal - and what a medal. It's not only gold but it's Team GB's 200th gold medal from the modern Olympic Games.

'Emma and Sharon did an awesome job in supporting Nicole in her race for gold.'

Sweden's Emma Johansson won the silver and Tatiana Guderzo of Italy won the bronze.




Nicole Cooke Factfile:

1983 - Born April 13, Swansea, Wales.

2000 - Wins gold medals in world championship junior road races in France and

Spain.

2001 - Continues that success with further wins in junior race and time trial

in Portugal. Awarded the Bidlake Memorial Prize, given for outstanding performance or

contribution to the betterment of cycling.

2002 - Wins gold medal in women's road race at the Commonwealth Games in

Manchester.

2003 - Wins the women's road race world cup, the youngest to do so and the

first Briton. Named BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

2004 - Becomes the youngest winner of the Giro d'Italia Femminile. August - Finishes fifth in road race in the Athens Olympics.

2006 - Wins the bronze medal in the road race at the Commonwealth Games in

Melbourne. September 3 - Wins road race world cup for the second time.

2008 - August 10 - Wins gold medal in road race at the Beijing Olympics,

Britain's first medal of the games.

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Olympics: Phelps launches bid for immortality with new record

Michael Phelps coolly launched his bid for Olympic immortality by breaking his own Games record for the 400m individual medley with a calculated early surge in the opening day heats at the spectacular Water Cube aquatic centre.

The American, seeking to eclipse Mark Spitz's haul of seven gold medals set at Munich in 1972, recorded a time of 4mins 7.82secs to qualify fastest for the Sunday morning showdown with his compatriot Ryan Lochte. He admitted afterwards he had been determined to send a message of intent to his rivals from the outset. "I wanted to be in the middle of the pool for the final because that's going to give me an advantage," said the 23-year-old, who already holds the world record for one of the toughest races on the Games schedule. "I'm pretty satisfied with the time. I didn't think I'd swim that fast in the preliminaries."

There are a potential 19 further races still to go if Phelps wishes to edge past Spitz and become the undisputed emperor of the Beijing pool. Even at a Games being staged on such a monumental scale eight gold medals will take some collecting, but there was an ominous ease about Phelps's first outing. At the halfway mark he was only a fraction outside the world-record split-time and he was a second and a half quicker than his nearest qualifying pursuer, Hungary's Laszlo Cseh.

Known as the 'Baltimore Bullet' to his friends, it was clear Phelps meant business even before he mounted the blocks. Gone was the wannabe handlebar moustache he has sported during his initial days in the athlete's village, a further clue that Phelps is not here to muck about. There is even less body hair at an Olympic swimming meet than you'll find at the average alopecia clinic, and Phelps would be missing a trick if he did anything to encourage the myriad smooth operators around him.

All that remains now is to prove his fast start was not a premature splash in the pan. Mental strength will be every bit as important as the extraordinarily long torso which makes him unique in his chosen sport. It is Lochte's misfortune to be around at the same time as this veritable human fish but even the unluckiest swimmers have drawn first prize in terms of the venues at this Olympics. While others broil outside in humidity and heat of steaming intensity, the Water Cube is a spectacular oasis which can accommodate 17,000 grateful spectators. The organisers' problem is not so much keeping the swimmers happy as extracting them from the cooling water once their races are over.

Britain will be represented in the women's 400m individual medley final by Hannah Miley from Inverurie in Aberdeenshire who qualified from the neighbouring lane to Phelps's female counterpart Katie Hoff, the current world record holder. Miley, who celebrated her 19th birthday on Friday, finished eighth fastest after a hotly-contested sequence of heats but will do well to capture a medal against a high-quality field which also features the 15-year-old Elizabeth Beisel of the US and the sleek Australian Stephanie Rice.

Hartlepool's Jemma Lowe sneaked into the semi-finals of the women's 100m butterfly by four-hundredths of a second and Christopher Cook also survived to fight another day in the men's 100m breaststroke. The women's 100m freestyle relay team also did just enough to qualify at the expense of Japan.

Moments in Sports

I will never allow Ronaldo to leave Manchester United and join Real Madrid, insists Fergie

Sir Alex Ferguson today vowed that Cristiano Ronaldo will never be allowed to join Real Madrid and suggested that Manchester United may even give the 23-year-old a new contract.

Ronaldo arrived back in Manchester yesterday after seemingly resolving issues regarding his future in an interview he gave in Portugal earlier this week.

And despite the fact that the Portuguese international has repeated his desire to one day play in Spain, Ferguson outlined his intention today to make sure that never happens.

As he revealed that United striker Wayne Rooney is back in training and could yet make the start of the league season, Ferguson said: 'We have ended all this stuff about Real Madrid and I think Cristiano appreciates this more and more and appreciates the club.

'That happens with players here.

'The longer they stay the less they ever want to leave.

'Look at players like Rio Ferdinand.

'I think Real Madrid know they are dealing with a different animal and I also think that Cristiano has settled down now and will enjoy his career here'.

United Chief Executive David Gill has steadfastly refused to extend Ronaldo's current playing contract but Ferguson would appear to differ.

The United manager added: 'He has four years left and hopefully at some point we will extend that and that is where we are.

'This was an important issue but there are very few players who have left me against my will'.

United face Portsmouth in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday and will be without Rooney as he continues his recovery from a virus.

But Sportsmail revealed yesterday that the England striker was making progress in his recovery and Ferguson said today: 'He is back in training and the virus appears to be leaving him.

'He had a chance for next weekend'.

£6m...That's Ljungberg's reward for being a Premier League flop as Hammers show him the door

Freddie Ljungberg's disastrous spell at Upton Park is over after only 12 months as West Ham agreed to pay a staggering £6million to get him off their spiralling wage billl.

As the full extent of Ljungberg's incredible salary details emerged - he is paid £85,000 a week and had an option for another year if he made just 15 appearances this season - West Ham are still suffering from the aftershock of one of the most expensive mistakes in British football history.

In total, he cost them approximately £13m, taking into account transfer fee, wages and his pay-off - working out at over £500,000 per game, following 25 appearances for the club last season in which he made little impact.

West Ham have yet to announce Ljungberg's departure, but the deal has been agreed and he has been told he is now effectively a free agent. Ljungberg, 31, believes he can still play at the top in England, Italy or Spain and has asked his agent to find him a new club.
The Sweden midfielder was due to earn £8.84m over the next two years at West Ham and initially informed Hammers chief executive Scott Duxbury that he had no intention of reaching a settlement.

Despite being told by manager Alan Curbishley that he would not be playing for the first team this season, the injury-prone midfielder told the club he would sit tight and see out the remaining two years on his mega-bucks deal. He has not been part of the pre-season programme and is understood to be back home in Sweden 'weighing up a number of options'.

It is an incredible fall from grace for Ljungberg. He was a member of Arsenal's 'Invincibles' who won the Premier League in 2004 without losing a game and was recently voted the Gunners' 11th best player of all time.

The Hammers signed him from their London rivals for £3m last summer, but he showed no signs of his Arsenal form and his season ended early when he broke a rib in a collision with Newcastle defender Steven Taylor.

Although Ljungberg recovered to play for Sweden at Euro 2008, he announced his retirement from international football after the tournament in order to prolong his career in the Premier League.

Another of West Ham's injury-prone strikers, Craig Bellamy, faces being out for up to two months after tearing a hamstring in the first half hour of Monday night's 5-3 friendly win at Ipswich.

This setback follows news that Kieron Dyer's long-awaited return has been put back until November because of a stress fracture in the right leg he broke early last season.

However, Bellamy will not face any action following an alleged verbal spat with a female fan at Portman Road.