City close in on midfielder James Milner
Manchester City hope to complete the signing of Aston Villa midfielder James Milner within the next 24 hours.
No fee has been agreed for the 24-year-old England player but it is believed a deal is close to being completed and he is set to have a medical on Wednesday.
City boss Roberto Mancini said his midfielder Stephen Ireland is likely to go to Villa as part of the transfer.
Mancini added that he would like keeper Shay Given to stay but will not stand in the way of a transfer.
Given, 34, was City's first choice last season but dislocated his shoulder in April and dropped to the substitutes bench for Saturday's opening-day 0-0 draw at Tottenham.
The Republic of Ireland international looked on as Joe Hart, who spent last term on loan at Birmingham, made a string of fine saves, and later Mancini admitted the 23-year-old England goalkeeper was his number one "for now".
Fulham manager Mark Hughes, who as City boss signed Given from Newcastle in 2009, would reportedly be keen on a reunion with his former player if Cottagers number one Mark Schwarzer is sold to Arsenal.
Milner, meanwhile, is set to become Mancini's sixth major summer signing following the arrivals of Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Aleksander Kolarov and Mario Balotelli.
"I hope we can close it between today today and tomorrow," Mancini said at a press conference on Tuesday. "I think that Milner is a good player, an English player which is important. I think that Milner can play in different positions."
His switch was thought to have been held up by Ireland's reported demand for a £2m payment to leave Eastlands.
City offered Villa £18m, with Ireland moving the other way as part of the deal, but Ireland's current employers are thought to be unwilling to pay him the sum he is seeking.
Asked on Tuesday if the deal would involve Ireland, Mancini added: "I hope so."
Milner has been linked with a move to big-spending City for most of the summer, with former Villa boss Martin O'Neill admitting before quitting the club on 9 August that he was resigned to losing the player.
Former Leeds and Newcastle midfielder Milner joined Villa for £12m in 2008 and has developed into a regular England international since joining the club.
Ireland is a product of City's academy and made his debut for the club in 2005.
But the influx of new players since City's wealthy owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan took over the club in 2009 has led to the 23-year-old drop down the pecking order.
The former Republic of Ireland international, who is contracted at Eastlands until the end of the 2013-14 season, made 30 appearances for the club in 2009-10.
Milner is ineligible for City's Europa League qualifying play-off against FC Timisoara on Thursday because he was not named in their Europa League squad for of the game, but would be free to play later in the competition.
However, striker Roque Santa Cruz has been removed from that squad with forward Balotelli coming in as his replacement.
Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov will be out of action for at least two months with a knee injury.
The Bulgarian midfielder, 31, suffered the problem in the first half of Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Sunderland.
Villa manager Gerard Houllier told the club's website: "We have lost Petrov for maybe at least two months.
"We will know whether he needs an operation by the middle of the week. "It's a shame because he was getting back to a good level."
Houllier added: "It was a very unfortunate accident."
Petrov has played in all nine of Villa's Premier League matches this season and has impressed his new boss since the Frenchman took the helm last month.
"The captain is not only the leader on the field, he is a leader by example," Houllier said recently.
Petrov cost £6.5m when he followed Martin O'Neill from Celtic to Villa Park in 2006, and after an unremarkable start has blossomed into one of Villa's key players.
Fellow midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker is one of the favourites to step in as skipper after enjoying a new lease of life under Houllier.
The former West Ham player skippered Villa against Blackburn in the last round of the Carling Cup, when Petrov was rested.
Houllier said: "No-one could argue that Reo-Coker has changed and become a different player. I trust him very much and he is doing a good job for the team.
"The job he is doing, he seems to be blossoming from that."
Bolton and Villa fancy a Mexican
Bolton and Aston Villa are reportedly tracking Deportivo's Mexico midfielder Andres Guardado with a view to a possible summer move.
Guardado is currently plying his trade in La Coruna but the left-sided schemer could be heading to the Premier League in the summer.
Blackburn were said to have expressed an interest on Guardado in the January transfer window, but they instead added Jermaine Jones to the Ewood Park engine room.
And it now looks as though their Lancashire rivals Bolton, plus Villa, are leading the chase having sent scouts to watch the 24-year-old in La Liga, where he has played for four years.
Guardado, who could cost around £7.5million, was an integral member of Mexico's World Cup side last summer.
And Deportivo could be persuaded to part ways with the former Atlas performer given their financial difficulties and current predicament in the Primera Division, where they lie 17th - one place and one point above the drop zone.
