Shay Given chooses to stay at Manchester City and fight for No1 place
• Goalkeeper persuaded to take himself off market
• Robinho expected to complete move to Milan
Shay Given has decided to stay at Manchester City, turning down the chance to rejoin his former manager Mark Hughes at Fulham, after being persuaded to remove himself from the market on the eve of the transfer window deadline.
Given had initially reacted to losing his place to Joe Hart by informing City's manager, Roberto Mancini, that he wanted to leave the club. That immediately alerted Fulham, who have been looking for a goalkeeper so they can allow Mark Schwarzer to join Arsenal.
Since then, however, Given has had a series of meetings with Mancini and the club's football administrator, Brian Marwood, and slowly come round to the idea that he should stay in Manchester and try to dislodge Hart. That, in turn, threatens Arsenal's hopes of signing Schwarzer, with Hughes having already gone on record to say he would allow the deal to happen only if he had a replacement lined up.
Given has based his decision on the fact he joined City in the hope that he could win the first trophy of his career and that, by leaving for a smaller club, he could effectively be passing over that chance. He had also worried that he might jeopardise his place in the Republic of Ireland team but the manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, has assured him that is not the case.
City are involved in four competitions and Given was assured the club are taking them all seriously and that, at the very least, there will be opportunities for him to play in the Carling Cup and Europa League Mancini, who described him as being among Europe's five best goalkeepers last season, has made it clear he does not want to lose him.
After spending £126m this summer City will not be heavily involved on the final day of the transfer window, although Robinho is expected to complete his move to Milan almost two years to the day since becoming the most expensive player in English football.
Mino Raiola, an Italian agent acting on a mandate from Milan, arrived in Manchester today to discuss the deal. Raoila has spent the summer negotiating Mario Balotelli's move to City and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's to Milan and will spend tomorrow trying to arrange a fee for Robinho, the asking price being in the region of £18m with potential add-ons.
Roque Santa Cruz, another big-money signing who has endured a difficult time in Manchester, is giving serious thought to staying at City despite a loan offer from Lazio. The £17m signing from Blackburn Rovers is said to have reservations about leaving England and may reject the chance of playing in Serie A.
