AC Milan officials in Manchester to complete De Jong move

Aug 30, 2012 9:05:00 PM

The Serie A giants are set to beat city rivals Inter to the signature of the Dutchman, who is surplus to requirements at Etihad Stadium

EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has arrived in Italy ahead of his proposed move to AC Milan.

The Dutchman landed in Milan on Thursday evening to finalise terms with the Rossoneri.

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Goal.com revealed last week that Milan had stolen a march on their city rivals Inter in the race to sign £8 million-rated De Jong.

Talks over a move are at an advanced stage with the midfielder, who is refusing to sign a new deal with the Premier League champions.

De Jong is surplus to requirements at Etihad Stadium and has been targeted by the two Italian clubs but Milan are set to secure the 27-year-old's signature in the next 24 hours.

De Jong, who joined City from Hamburg for £18m in January 2009, has only one year remaining on his contract in Manchester and is keen to move on.

He lost his regular starting place to Gareth Barry last season and has been moved even further down the pecking order by the arrival of Jack Rodwell despite being in the starting XI against Liverpool last Sunday.

Roberto Mancini has been keen to strengthen his central midfield during this transfer window but missed out on long-term target Daniel De Rossi after the Roma man rejected City's advances, as was exclusively revealed by Goal.com at the start of last week.

City's failure to secure the signature of either De Rossi, or their other principal central midfield Javi Martinez, who has joined Bayern Munich, has had no impact on De Jong’s future at the club.

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