The City revolution and its gathering momentum is captivating the 'heavies' as well as the red tops, and the Independent's James Lawton addresses the Blues today.

Highly-respected Lawton has been around long enough to have seen several great teams emerge at various clubs, and his experience is matched by a writing style that entrances his readers.

His thoroughly entertaining column, never a lightweight read, is of his usual high standard and leaves us in no doubt as to the enormity, in his eyes certainly, of the task ahead for Roberto Mancini.

With one eye on City's signings, Jim declares: "What should hardly need saying now is that no manager in English football has ever approached a new season carrying quite such a weight of expectation."

He has a reminder too as to the traditional route to building a great team: "You do it piece by piece. You impose a way of thinking and playing and you do it in stages."

But Lawton, who covered the era of Mercer and Allison, has also sensed that the time might be right for City to take full advantage of the clubs formerly known as the Big Four.

He writes: "The summer of vulnerable, perhaps even tottering giants, is the one when City can finally return among the elite they terrified for a few enchanted years back in the late Sixties."

Over at the Mail, they warn that Roberto will have to perform miracles to squeeze all his senior players into the 25-strong squad being demanded by the Premier League on September 1.

The Manchester Evening News goes the other way - Mike Whalley has worked out two City teams for the boss to field, one for Thursdays and one for Sundays.

Team 1 is: Hart, Boateng, Kolo Toure, Lescott, Kolarov, Adam Johnson, Yaya Toure, Barry, Silva, Tevez and Adebayor.

Team 2 is: Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Vieira, Ireland, De Jong, Santa Cruz, Bellamy.

That should get their readers arguing.

And there may be more talent to squeeze in soon for Roberto. Most papers report that City are closing in on a deal for Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli, several say it appears only to be a matter of time before James Milner joins.