Manchester City to sign James Milner from Aston Villa for £24 million

[Elano]

James Milner is set to complete his protracted £24 million transfer from Aston Villa to Manchester City on Wednesday after travelling from the Midlands on Tuesday night to undergo a medical in Manchester.

The England midfielder, who will be replaced at Villa Park by Stephen Ireland — an £8 million makeweight in the deal — is expected to complete his medical before finally ending the three-month transfer saga.

Milner will be ineligible for City ’s two-leg Europa League play-off tie against FC Timisoara of Romania, but he could make his debut in the Premier League clash with Liverpool at Eastlands on Monday evening.

Yet while Milner is on the brink of signing a five-year contract worth in excess of £100,000 a week at City, more than double his Villa Park salary, manager Roberto Mancini has conceded that he is now ready to allow goalkeeper Shay Given to leave the club should he choose to seek first-team football elsewhere after losing his position to Joe Hart.

Milner’s arrival will signal the end of City’s summer spending, however, and Mancini admits that the 24 year-old will be a crucial addition to his squad.

Mancini said: “Milner is a good player and he can play in different positions.

“If you want to be a good team it’s very important that you buy young players and today we have a strong, young player who can be very good for the future.”

Ireland’s departure for Villa as part of the deal was finally rubber-stamped yesterday with the Irish midfielder accepting a compensation package in the region of £1.5 million from City.

The 23 year-old, who signed a five-year contract at Eastlands in May 2009, had informed Mancini of his desire to leave the club in May, but the two parties had reached an impasse over the player’s settlement figure, a situation which had threatened to scupper the Milner transfer.

Ireland’s exit, on the same day that Craig Bellamy completed a loan move to Cardiff City, is unlikely to be the end of the high-profile departures from the club before the Aug 31 deadline.

FC Schalke are keen to lure Robinho from City, while the club are ready to offload Roque Santa Cruz, Brazilian forward Jo and Felipe Caicedo, who is close to agreeing a move to West Ham.

And while Mancini is reluctant to lose Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Given, the Italian has admitted that he will not stand in the 34 year-old’s way should he ask to leave.

Mancini said: “The position of goalkeeper is different, but I can say that I hope that Shay will stay with us.

“I accept his position, though. I hope that he can stay with us because we have four competitions to think of this season, but I respect his wishes if he wants to leave.”

Given is set to play against Timisoara in Romania tomorrow, but a move to Fulham is likely — either on loan or on a permanent basis — once the London club agree a deal to sell Mark Schwarzer to Arsenal. Celtic are also interested in Given.

Meanwhile, City’s decision to allow Bellamy to join Cardiff has attracted the interest of Motherwell, who have threatened to send bailiffs to the Championship club to recover £175,000 owed for the transfer of Paul Quinn.

Moments after Cardiff announced Bellamy’s season-long loan, Motherwell issued a statement warning that they were considering a number of options.

The Scottish Premier League club are taking legal advice over issuing a winding-up order, arresting assets or sending in bailiffs to recover the money owed from the Quinn deal.

Motherwell say they are owed £175,000 plus interest and costs, leaving chairman John Boyle furious that Cardiff have been able to acquire Bellamy.

“How cynical can it be that a club can be signing a raft of high-profile, expensive players when they owe a small club like us over £200,000?” he said. “It is quite simply a disgrace."