Transfer Roundup: £30 Million James Milner Next On Manchester City List?

Manchester City have already secured the signatures of David Silva and Jerome Boateng and Yaya Toure's arrival is imminent. There is no sign of Roberto Mancini's spending spree grinding to a halt with reports suggesting the club are to resurrect their interest in Aston Villa midfielder James Milner.

The have already had a £20 million offer rejected by Villa but it is believed Manchester City Are Ready to Increase Their Offer for James Milner to £30 Million. This is the price which Martin O'Neill has allegedly set for the England international who can play either out wide or in the centre of midfield. City will probably try to prise him away for less but I expect Villa to hold out for the full £30 million.

As highly priced players start to arrive at Eastlands a few less expensive ones are moving in the opposite direction. Martin Petrov has joined Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer. The winger has been unlucky with injuries and his acquisition will delight Bolton fans. Bolton Wanderers have also signed Robbie Blake although supporters will probably be able to contain their excitement at this particular piece of news.

Reports suggest Real Madrid have made a formal bid for Ashley Cole. Although Jose Mourinho has been hotly tipped to sign Maicon from Inter Milan the club already have the outstanding Sergio Ramos at right back. A left back is more of a priority and it seems plausible that Mourinho would look to raid another of his former clubs to sign one. Chelsea do have Yuri Zhirkov who could conceivably replace Cole but the club are unlikely to be willing to sanction the departure of the England international.

If he is unsuccessful in his attempts to prise Cole away from Chelsea he may look to Benfica left back Fabio Coentrao who had an outstanding World Cup for Portugal. Bayern Munich and Manchester City are believed to have already made bids for Fabio Coentrao with Benfica holding out for closer to £25 million.

One of Roy Hodgson's first jobs as Liverpool manager will be persuading Yossi Benayoun to stay at the club. With Joe Cole and Michael Ballack having already left the club and Deco likely to follow in their footsteps Chelsea are in urgent need of midfield replacements.

Chelsea have made a £6 million bid for Yossi Benayoun and have agreed personal terms with the player and it will be up to Hodgson to decide whether to allow the under contract Israeli midfielder to move on.

Everton have signed Magaye Gueye from Strasbourg. The 20 year old striker arrives for an undisclosed fee, probably in the region of £1 million. West Ham Utd are leading the chase for former Portsmouth striker Frederic Piquionne with Lyon supposedly about to let the player leave for a minimal fee.