City set to miss out on De Rossi

Not again, Manchester City. After a summer that saw top targets of Robin Van Persie, Stevan Jovetic and Daniele De Rossi fail to arrive at the Etihad, talkSPORT are now reporting that renewed moves to sign the latter will hit the skids in January, with Real Madrid now emerging as favourites to sign the 29-year-old.

Indeed, will Mancini now be fearful on just who will come in instead of the Italian defensive midfielder? In the summer it was Maicon, Javi Garcia and Scott Sinclair. Could Wayne Routledge be tempted to move to Manchester?

Perhaps it is simply time that Mancini just gave up the chase for De Rossi. This certainly isn't a romantic comedy. The pursuing party doesn't ALWAYS get the girl....

Adam Mazrani