Manchester City have signed Jerome Boateng, the Germany defender, for a reported fee of €12.5 million (about £10 million), at the start of what looks to be another busy summer for the club.

Aston Villa will insist that Manchester City pay close to £30 million if they want James Milner.

Manchester City are preparing a £34 million bid to sign Edin Dzeko, the Wolfsburg forward, as they look to build before Sheikh Mansour’s spending power is curtailed in 2012 by new financial regulations.

United States DaMarcus Beasley, the Rangers winger, looked back to his best on the eve of decision day. Bob Bradley, the USA coach, could name his final 23 later today after giving his fringe players a 45-minute run-out in the 4-2 defeat by the Czech Republic in Connecticut last night and Beasley, the one-time Manchester City loanee, impressed, while Maurice...

Manchester City are planning to steal a march on Chelsea with moves to sign Marek Hamsik, the Napoli midfield player, and Mario Balotelli, the Inter Milan forward and “bad boy” of Italian football.

Roberto Mancini believes he has emerged victorious from his power struggle with Manchester City’s players and has warned the squad that life is about to get much tougher under his watch.

Khaldoon al-Mubarak vowed last night to give Roberto Mancini “all the tools he needs” to turn Manchester City into title contenders next season, moving to end speculation about the manager’s future.

Roberto Mancini has been assured he will remain manager of Manchester City “for years to come” despite failing to lead his team into the Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur will play in the Champions League for the first time next season after a deserved victory over Manchester City, their rivals for fourth place in the Barclays Premier League, at the City of Manchester Stadium last night.

The league table never lies. Even in this most unpredictable of Barclays Premier League seasons, it has remained true to reality, which is why Tottenham Hotspur, the fourth-best team in England, deserve a longawaited crack at the Champions League and Manchester City, with all their riches, must face up to some harsh truths this morning.

Roberto Mancini has thrown down the gauntlet to Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and other potential signings by warning them not to make a “big mistake” by shunning Manchester City if the club are unable to offer them Champions League football next season.

Manchester City are considering legal action against Harry Redknapp after he claimed that the world’s richest club used their financial muscle to warn off Tottenham Hotspur from signing Craig Bellamy last season.

An agent was talking, as they do, about interest in his client, an up-and-coming South American player. All the top clubs in Europe were swarming around him, he said: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United — and Manchester City.

Roberto Mancini has challenged his Manchester City players to make history in tomorrow night’s crucial showdown against Tottenham Hotspur.

Peter Crouch and Patrick Vieria have played on some of the biggest stages in football but neither player needs convincing of the importance when Manchester City face Tottenham Hotspur at the City of Manchester Stadium tomorrow.

After all the calculating, all the safety-first pursuit of goalless draws against Manchester United and Arsenal, Roberto Mancini has what he planned for. On Wednesday night, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur play off for a place in the Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur can clinch Champions League football next season with victory at Manchester City after Tom Huddlestone's solitary goal gave the north London club all three points at home to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

Martin O’Neill believes Richard Dunne would have still been a first-choice player with Manchester City, despite the Eastlands club's £220 million outlay on new players, had he not left for Aston Villa in August.

Roberto Mancini has urged Manchester City’s owners to give him time but the manager has conceded that he has yet to receive any assurances he will remain in charge if the club fail to qualify for the Champions League this season.

Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, has told Carlos Tévez that he should leave the club in the summer if he is not happy.

Team news and squad sheets will appear below as soon as the managers have posted them around the country. In the meantime, watch our video previews.

Manchester City are set to sign Marton Fulop on loan from Sunderland on Wednesday morning after their attempt to bring Joe Hart back from Birmingham City failed.

Manchester City insist that they are acting within the spirit of the laws of the game by applying to the Barclays Premier League to be given special dispensation to sign a goalkeeper on emergency loan.

The “emergency loan” rule should be for skint teams in Coca-Cola League Two with squads of 18 players who have been hit by an unprecedented injury or illness crisis, not to get the richest club in the world out of a hole caused by their failure to build a balanced squad.

Manchester City are set to be given permission to sign a new goalkeeper on an emergency loan.

Manchester City have formally asked the Premier League for permission to complete the emergency signing of a goalkeeper.

Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, wants to sign Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards from Manchester City and is preparing to make bids for both players this summer.

IF THERE is a footballing god he must be enjoying himself this weekend. Manchester City, the brashest, most affluent club in football, spend more than £400m attempting to force themselves into European football’s elite, only for their season’s fate to be thrown into the lap of the Faroe Islands reserve goalkeeper.

Manchester City’s scramble to finish fourth in the Premier League may now lie in the hands of a 23-year old goalkeeper from the Faroe Islands.

Chelsea have conceded defeat in the race to sign Fernando Torres because they refuse to compete with Manchester City’s vast spending.

Kolo Touré has stoked the fires before a potentially explosive match at the Emirates Stadium this evening by claiming that he has a better chance of winning silverware at Manchester City than if he had stayed at Arsenal.

Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, believes that three wins from their remaining four fixtures will be enough to secure Champions League football next season, providing one of those victories comes against Tottenham Hotspur, their main rivals for fourth place.

Liverpool have reacted furiously to Manchester City making their interest in Fernando Torres public after Roberto Mancini revealed his desire to sign the forward.

Kolo Touré, the Manchester City captain, has urged Emmanuel Adebayor to remain “calm” when he returns to the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Manchester City are monitoring Ángel di María and Óscar Cardozo, the coveted Benfica players, as they weigh up their options before a spending spree that could rival Real Madrid’s extraordinary £250 million outlay last summer.

The older brother of Mame Biram Diouf, the Manchester United striker was left shaken after being attacked by Manchester City fans as violence marred another derby match between the clubs.

Roberto Mancini argued that “99 per cent of the time it is lucky” when the most successful teams score in the final seconds of games. But the Manchester City manager need only have looked to his side and seen the expression etched on the face of his assistant after Paul Scholes’s late intervention to realise good fortune had nothing to...

Martin Petrov, the Manchester City winger, will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

REFLECTING on his team’s 13 goals in their three previous games, Roberto Mancini said 1-0 would do just fine in this bonfire of local hostilities. Alas, this wasn’t the one-nil the Italian had in mind. City’s disappointment won’t have been lessened by the winning goal coming in the final minute of stoppage time at the end of a match that...

Manchester City want to know why Martin Atkinson was chosen as a late replacement to referee the Manchester derby as the build-up to a potentially explosive encounter this lunchtime took a dramatic twist.

“Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour and have to live with it. You can’t do anything about them if they keep on making noise but what we can do is . . . you can get on with your life, put your television on and turn it up a bit louder.”

Manchester City’s overriding concern may be about finishing fourth in the Barclays Premier League this season, but Adam Johnson believes the prospect of effectively ending their bitter rivals’ title hopes will serve as an extra source of motivation in their eagerly awaited derby tomorrow.

Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, has been fined £20, 000 after being found guilty of improper conduct in his clash with David Moyes at Eastlands last month. The fine is suspended until the end of the 2011/12 season.

Roberto Mancini is expected to earn a timely reprieve today before the Manchester derby by escaping a touchline ban for his bust-up with David Moyes, the Everton manager, last month.

A red letter day in the blue half of Manchester and, before next weekend’s little local skirmish, a few more things for Sir Alex Ferguson to growl and gurn over, including the relentless form of a certain centre forward.

Blackburn Rovers dealt Manchester United’s title hopes a black eye at Ewood Park yesterday. Could the stage now be set for Manchester City to deliver the knockout blow?

Kevin McDonald reacted to being substituted at half-time during Burnley’s thrashing by Manchester City by disappearing down the pub.

The idea that Burnley resembled a bunch of pub players in their 6-1 home defeat by Manchester City last Saturday may not be too far from the truth.

There is no disgrace in drawing with Birmingham City at St Andrew’s. After all, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the top five in the Barclays Premier League, have met the same fate in England’s Second City this season.

Should Roberto Mancini return to Italy at the end of the season, he will always have Turf Moor. After being criticised at times this season for being overly defensive, Mancini watched as City hit five unanswered first-half goals past Burnley and recorded their biggest away win in the Premier League.

Roberto Mancini has admitted that he is “ready to go back” to Italy and would consider a coaching position at Juventus after dropping the biggest hint yet that he does not see his long-term future as manager of Manchester City.

Sven-Göran Eriksson’s agent believes that Manchester City made a huge mistake when they sacked the Swede and claims that they would be a bigger force in the Barclays Premier League if he were still in charge.

Carlos Tévez scored a 12-minute hat-trick to lift Manchester City to within two points of Tottenham Hotspur in fourth place in the Barclays Premier League after Roberto Mancini’s men capitalised on Gary Caldwell’s second-half sending off.

Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, believes that Emmanuel Adebayor’s eagerly awaited return from suspension at home to Wigan Athletic this evening could make all the difference in the club’s pursuit of Champions League football.

Roberto Mancini received public backing from the most unlikely figures yesterday as Manchester City considered whether to lodge an appeal after their manager was charged by the FA with improper conduct over his touchline bust-up with David Moyes.

Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, has been charged with improper conduct by the FA after his clash with Everton counterpart David Moyes on Wednesday.

David Moyes may have played dumb but the Cheshire cat grin gave the game away. The Everton manager knew exactly what he was doing when, on the eve of this tempestuous encounter, he suggested that Manchester City’s players did not “know what it means” to play for the club and, in the same breath, claimed that they had yet to...

Aston Villa may have lost fewer games than Manchester United or Arsenal, but they missed a big opportunity last night to join the elite in the Champions League when, as Manchester City faltered at home to Everton, they failed to overcome Sunderland. This was a good night, indeed, for Tottenham Hotspur.

Joleon Lescott, the Manchester City defender, has been ruled out for "four to five weeks" with a hamstring tendon problem, according to manager Roberto Mancini.

GARETH BARRY and Manchester City’s other England players will make a last-ditch effort to persuade Wayne Bridge to change his mind and play for his country at the World Cup. Since withdrawing from consideration for the national side because of his anguish about John Terry’s affair with his former long-term partner, Vanessa Perroncel, Bridge has been immovable in his stance.