Clearly this is extremely fluid between now and the end of the summer transfer window with players moving in both directions, but following the confirmation of Yaya Toure’s move, here’s the current list of first team midfielders at Man City for next season:-

• Michael Johnson
• Stephen Ireland
• Shaun Wright-Phillips
• Adam Johnson
• Gareth Barry
• Patrick Veira
• Nigel De Jong
• Yaya Toure
• David Silva

I suppose from our perspective, and, I suspect, a lot of teams, that’s a pretty intimidating array of talent. I can’t help wondering whether that’s something James Milner feels he should join to improve his game, or whether he would be reluctant to risk not playing as much as he does now. He likes to play, we know that.

I suppose there’s the longer term view that Champions League could well be on offer in 2011/12 with City, but then again, it might not. We all know that these super egos could fail to gel, they could rack up a run of bad results, the manager could be shown the door and the wheels would fall off the wagon.

Wishful thinking on my part perhaps, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. On the other hand, if everything slots into place and these guys actually play well together… well, it doesn’t look too promising for the rest of us, does it?

England Sticks With Fabio

In other, unrelated news, the FA have just confirmed that Fabio Capello will remain on as England boss, which I think is good news. He’s made a few mistakes for sure, not least leaving Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor behind, but there’s no question that he’s a top notch manager. When you consider the alternatives, it’s clearly the best option and common sense has prevailed in my opinion.

Pre-Season News

And finally, back to Villa, Peterborough have been added to the pre-season fixtures and tickets for the Guadiana Cup games in Portugal have gone on general sale. I’ve added details for both to the pre-season page.