Shay Given, Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz and Vladimir Weiss are all linked with moves away from City in today’s papers, be it on loan or something more permanent.

The Bellamy thread continues to dominate most of the back pages with the fiery Welshman linked with a loan move to hometown club Cardiff City, though David Moore in The Sun probably has the quote of the day from Bluebirds’ boss Dave Jones.

Moore reckons Jones is not entirely convinced the Blues’ forward will move to South Wales and has him saying: “I know Craig lives in the same village as me and cuts my grass, but we couldn’t afford his big toe at the moment.”

Fulham, Sunderland, Celtic and, inevitably, Tottenham are also mentioned as possible suitors for the Welsh skipper with the general thread among all the reports that a deal will happen sooner rather than later, regardless of the destination.

The press were always going to create a story around whichever City keeper didn’t start at Spurs and expect plenty of speculation about the Blues’ coveted Shay Given over the next few days. Hopefully, the Republic of Ireland is going nowhere, but that has stopped a plethora of stories linking him with several other clubs today.

Ian Herbert in The Independent writes Roberto Mancini would be loathe losing Given, but may consider a loan deal – on City’s terms, having been stung once already.

Writes Herbert: “Birmingham’s financial demands prevented City getting Joe Hart back from St Andrew’s last season when Given and Stuart Taylor were injured have reinforced Mancini’s belief that he needs two top keepers.”

Elsewhere, David Friel in The Sun links Weiss to Celtic, quoting the youngster as saying he would be interested in a move to Celtic, if the Blues were happy with the deal, and Santa Cruz, too, is again linked with several clubs, most notably Fulham.

Just 15 days before the window shuts!