Man City turn spotlight on Arteta

London: Manchester City are expected to reignite their interest in Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta if they fail to sign England international James Milner from Aston Villa.

City's manager, Roberto Mancini, had earmarked Milner as one of his priorities as he looks to build a side capable of challenging for the Premier League title, but the club are determined that they will not pay the £30 million (Dh167.9 million) that would tempt Martin O'Neill to sell.

Mancini has already had one offer of around £20 million turned down, and are prepared to go as high as £24 million.

If Villa will not accept a compromise figure and the stalemate between the sides continues, though, the Italian has identified Arteta as his preferred alternative.

It was thought that City's interest in Arteta, earlier this summer had cooled but Everton fear that the Milner stalemate has changed that.

Though there has been no contact between Everton and City over the Spanish playmaker, who has returned from the pre-season tour of Australia to marry in his homeland, the Goodison Park hierarchy believe Arteta's head may be turned by the prospect of joining countryman David Silva at the world's richest club. Silva passed his medical at City on Wednesday.

Everton will not consider selling the player simply for profit or to allow manager David Moyes the chance to strengthen his own squad. However, the Scot's encounter with the new-found wealth of City last summer has forced him to acknowledge the futility of keeping an unsettled player at Goodison.

Pole position

Arsenal have also been linked with Arteta in the past, but City's wealth puts them in pole position to sign the 28 year-old should he tell Everton that he wishes to follow in Lescott's footsteps. Everton would only consider selling the midfielder should they receive a premium fee for a player who missed much of 2009 with a knee ligament injury. Despite City's successes this summer — capturing Silva for £24 million from Valencia, the German international defender Jerome Boateng from Hamburg and Yaya Toure from Barcelona — Mancini has hardly enjoyed a trouble-free spending spree.

Juventus remain confident that they, rather than City, will strike a deal with Wolfsburg for the Bosnian international striker Edin Dzeko after a meeting between the Italian club and the player's representatives in Milan. City have baulked at the prospect of paying the £40 million demanded by the Bundesliga club. That may mean Mancini switching his attentions to his former charge Mario Balotelli, the Inter Milan striker.