Aston Villa's James Milner may follow £24m David Silva to Manchester City
Manchester City are ready to take their summer spending towards £90 million by attempting to lure James Milner from Aston Villa after completing the £24 million signing of Valencia forward David Silva.
Silva, currently in South Africa with Spain's World Cup squad, has agreed a four-year contract at Eastlands, despite interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea.
Man City had feared that Real would win the race for the 24 year-old, but Silva has rejected overtures from the Bernabeu to move to the Premier League.
With Germany defender Jerome Boateng having tied up a £10.5 million move from Hamburg last month and Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure having agreed a £26 million transfer from the Nou Camp, which will be officially rubber-stamped by the end of the week, Silva's arrival has taken City's summer investment beyond £60 million.
And despite Milner's unremarkable World Cup campaign with England, City manager Roberto Mancini remains keen to add the midfielder to his squad before they fly to the United States for a training camp and pre-season tour on July 12.
Aston Villa want around £30 million for Milner after rejecting a £20 million last month. But while City are prepared to increase their bid, they are now waiting on Milner's camp to signal their intentions before returning to Villa with a new offer.
The capture of Silva is a major coup for City, however. Despite his absence from the starting line-up of Spain's last two World Cup fixtures, he was a key figure in the Euro 2008 success and is regarded as one of Europe's brightest talents.
Silva, who will undergo a medical following the World Cup, said: "The time is right for me to seek a new challenge, and I am thrilled about playing in England with Manchester City.
"There has been a lot of speculation about me, but I need to fully concentrate on playing for Spain in the World Cup.
"That is why my advisers have been dealing with City for me so that I can have my attentions only on South Africa and playing well for my national team."
City manager Mancini now expects Silva's arrival to tempt more leading players to move to Eastlands.
He said: "In signing David, we are showing the world that we are bringing the best players here and that we hope to compete to win the Premier League.
"When players see what is happening at Manchester City and the ambition they are attracted to what we are building and want to be a part of it."
Fresh doubt over Toure's protracted Manchester City transfer
What will surely prove to be one of the summer's lengthiest transfer sagas has taken a new twist, with claims in the Spanish media that Yaya Toure could stay at Barcelona after all and not move to Manchester City .
It was reported two days ago that Manchester City have agreed to pay 30 million euros for Toure and that City's executive director Gary Cook had a four hour meeting with Toure, Barcelona officials and the player's agent at the Hotel Miramar in Barcelona to finalize the deal. Toure then reportedly underwent and passed a Manchester City medical at a local medical centre. The only remaining issue over the deal appeared to be the question of how much money Toure's outspoken agent, Dimitry Selcuk will receive.
However, the deal has taken a fresh twist. According to Spanish daily Mundo Deportivo, the transfer was agreed by Barcelona's old board, headed by former club president Joan Laporta. With Sandro Rosell now heading a fresh administration at the Nou Camp, the new Barcelona board must approve the deal for Toure. As a result "the agreement between the two sides has expired", according to Mundo Deportivo and the two sides will have to agree a fee again from scratch.
An additional complication is that Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola apparently wants to keep Toure if possible and will use this window of opportunity to persuade him to stay. Toure's prime motivation for leaving the Nou Camp is to play more first-team football and although Guardiola cannot guarantee more playing time, he considers him a valuable player and wants to keep him at Barcelona.
Toure played 34 times for the La Liga champions last campaign, scoring one goal and chipping in with six assists. The Ivory Coast international was set to be out of contract at Barcelona at the end of the 2011/2012 season. If he does eventually become part of Roberto Mancini's City squad, Toure will join his brother Kolo at Eastlands.
TRANSFER BOLLOX
Liverpool-bound Roy Hodgson wants to spend the £15m transfer budget he will be handed when he checks in as boss at Anfield on Gilberto Silva, Brede Hangeland, Rafael van der Vaart and Danny Murphy. Daily Mail
After spending much of the World Cup warming the bench for Spain, Barcelona transfer target midfielder Cesc Fabregas may stay at Arsenal after all. Daily Mirror
West Ham are closing in on a deal to sign Brazilian wonderkid Neymar on a season-long loan, before the 18-year-old Santos forward then joins Chelsea in a year's time. Daily Mail
Sunderland are close to signing Nigeria striker John Utaka from Portsmouth in a £2m deal. Daily Mail
Sunderland have bid £7m for England defender Matthew Upson - an offer that may tempt cash-strapped West Ham. Daily Mirror
Fulham have rejected a £6m bid from Birmingham for striker Bobby Zamora, while Burnley striker Robbie Blake has joined Bolton on a free transfer. Daily Mail
Fulham have targeted West Ham striker Carlton Cole as a ready-made replacement for Zamora, who is set to follow manager Roy Hodgson out of Craven Cottage. Daily Mirror
OTHER BOLLOX
Roy Hodgson's two-year contract as Liverpool manager, which is expected to be signed on Thursday, will not contain a release clause allowing him to take the England job. Daily Telegraph
Disarray within the Football Assocation could hurt England's chances of successfully bidding for the 2018 World Cup, with Fifa unhappy that interim chairman Roger Burden did not attend England's defeat by Germany in Bloemfontein on Sunday.Daily Telegraph
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