This has been going on for weeks. Given apparently said that he was willing to drop a division before the transfer window opened and Sven was on the phone the next day. We have made approaches and now that it's hit the press that Given is willing to come here I'd say it's fair to assume that both parties are interested. But it looks as though the papers are right for once when they say that man city, whether it be Mancini or the board, are not willing to sanction the move, otherwise this would have happened weeks ago.
Could be an interesting day tomorrow
and let's not forget that a deal for Ricardo may still happen if this one doesn't. Maybe Sven is playing this one the same way he acted in the deal for Parker, as in everything was was set for him to come but we waited to see of anything else happened first, then Yakubu arrived and Parker was history