Empics

Friends reunited? Terry and Scolari

City had an approach for Terry rejected in the January transfer window but The Guardian report that conversations between City and people close to the Chelsea and England captain suggest Terry might be interested in listening to what the Abu Dhabi United Group plan for the club.

This report runs contrary to quotes from Terry and Chelsea who both intimated that the player was committed to the Stamford Bridge club for the long-term.

On Tuesday night, Scolari's spokesman Acaz Fellegger moved to calm speculation linking the Brazilian with a move to Man City, insisting that ''Nobody has been in touch.''

Although well regarded within the game, City boss Mark Hughes is enduring a torrid season with the club struggling in mid-table and are currently closer to the drop zone than the European places.

Observers contend that Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, City's billionaire owner, believes that former Chelsea boss Scolari could get more consistent performances out of £30m striker Robinho and could be instrumental in luring Kaka to the club, if a move to bring the Brazilian playmaker from AC Milan is reprised.

If any changes are to made at City it seems likely that they will not take place until the summer, not least because, as Fellegger insists: ''Scolari has no intention of taking on another job during this season. He has no intention of doing anything before the end of May or June.''

Meanwhile, Michael Ballack has insisted that he was not responsible for making Scolari's position at Chelsea untenable.

In the immediate aftermath of Scolari's sacking it was reported that Ballack, along with goalkeeper Petr Cech and striker Didier Drogba were responsible for engineering Scolari's departure.

But the German midfielder told The Telegraph: ''This is unfair. I couldn't believe this when I heard about it when I was away on team duty with Germany. This is speculation and it is not true.''

''I had always a good relationship with every coach. I was disappointed when I heard this but I couldn't react because I was away. In recent months I've spoken only good things about Scolari. They were even surprised in Germany because I always had a lot of good words about him.''