Roberto Mancini admits Manchester City expect to have James Milner and Mario Balotelli on board by Thursday.
City boss confident Milner and Balotelli will arrive next week
Roberto Mancini admits Manchester City expect to have James Milner and Mario Balotelli on board by Thursday.
The Blues have been chasing the pair for some time, with long-running transfer sagas having dominated the summer.
It appears as though City may finally be closing on agreements for both players, though, with everything starting to fall into place.
Both Italian striker Balotelli and England midfielder Milner are due to report for international duty this week, which will delay proceedings, but deals to take them to Eastlands are close to completion.
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill hinted on Friday that Milner was on his way out of the club, while Inter have never tried to stand in the way of Balotelli leaving once he made it clear he wanted out.
Market
All in all, Mancini looks set to take his exorbitant summer spending spree to another level by the time City kick-off the new Premier League season with an away date at Tottenham next weekend.
"We are close with both players but now they are going with their national teams," said Mancini after a 2-0 friendly win over Valencia on Saturday.
"We hope that we can have these players by next Thursday.
"For now we have two days off and we are not going to talk about the market. Next week we will see.
"These deals could happen but we need to wait."
Dilemma
Meanwhile, having given Shay Given and Joe Hart 45 minutes each against Los Che, Mancini claims he is still no closer to deciding who his starting goalkeeper will be for the 2010/11 campaign.
"It is not a big decision," insisted the Italian.
"I am fortunate that I have two strong goalkeepers. This is important when you have a long season with three matches every week.
"I have an idea who I will play but I still have a week to decide.
"I know whoever I pick, the other one will help that person. It is not a problem for us."
