Estate agents all over Manchester will have pricked up their ears this morning at a small story in the Mirror.

Apparently David McDonnell is privy to the manager's living plans and under the headline ‘The long haul for Mancini’ informs his readers thus:

“Roberto Mancini is so confident of his future at Manchester City he is moving his family over from Italy this summer,”

He quotes the boss as saying that the team has to grow but that ‘the project has just begun and I will stay here for several years’.

Summer could be a busy time, too, for several of the City squad looking to be on various planes to South Africa for the World Cup and Shaun Wright-Phillips did little to harm his chances with an inspired performance as a substitute in England’s win over Egypt at Wembley last night.

Whilst the papers predictably majored on the contribution of Peter Crouch in the little and large combination that dragged the game back after the Three Lions fell behind, there was praise for our homegrown winger who is facing competition from Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Theo Walcott and David Beckham for a place in Capello’s final squad.

The Independent reckoned that SWP ‘made a better immediate impression’ than Walcott last night, a theme readily taken up by Oliver Kay in the Times.

“As for Wright-Phillips,” he wrote. “He has long been regarded as fourth in queue for one of three places on the right-hand side of midfield but it was he rather than Walcott who seized his chance last night.”