Busy day for City

Tuesday, 17/08/2010

It has been a busy day at the City of Manchester stadium, with manager Roberto Mancini making real strides towards finalising his 25-man Premier League squad.

Having completed the signing of Mario Balotelli on Friday, Mancini has finally reached an agreement with Aston Villa for James Milner – who had hinted that he'd be prepared to stay at Villa if his future wasn't clarified this week.

Mancini has confirmed that Stephen Ireland will be moving to Villa Park as makeweight in that deal, after telling the former Ireland midfielder that he wasn't part of City's plans.

The 2009 Player of the Year was told to train with the reserves, speeding his exit from the club.

Another player who was outcast is Craig Bellamy who has joined Cardiff on a season-long loan, as we exclusively revealed to you on Sunday morning.

Having loaned Nedum Onuoha to Sunderland last week, a fourth homegrown player could follow the defender, Ireland and Bellamy out of City as Mancini admitted that he will allow Shay Given to leave the club.

When asked whether he'd reject a transfer request from Given, who was dropped in favour of Joe Hart for the start of the season, Mancini said that he wouldn't stand in the way of the former Newcastle keeper if he wanted to leave.

With question marks still surrounding the future of Roque Santa Cruz, Jo, Joleon Lescott and Shaun Wright-Phillips, it is unlikely that Mancini's business is done for the season.

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