City refuse to pay £25m for Real's Gago
Mancini's frustration at missing two targets eased by closing of Johnson deal
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City signed the Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson in a deal worth £7m, but missed out on two other new recruits. City refused to spend £25m on Real Madrid's Argentine midfielder Fernando Gago, and their proposed £7m move for McDonald Mariga from Parma collapsed when he failed to be awarded a work permit.
The final day of the transfer window saw City refuse to meet Madrid's asking price for 23-year-old Gago – the club rejecting suggestions that their manager Roberto Mancini had been let down by the chief executive, Garry Cook, and football administrator, Brian Marwood. City also denied claims made in Spain last night that the clubs had agreed a fee of £15m for Gago only to miss yesterday's 5pm deadline because they could not complete the deal until they had an agreement from City's chairman, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, whom they could not reach in time.
On a frustrating day for City, Marwood and Mancini attended a work permit hearing for Mariga but because Kenya are outside the world's top 75 countries his move fell through. Internazionale seized the opportunity and signed the highly rated 22-year-old on a four-year deal.
City did manage to complete the signing of former England Under-21 international Johnson on a four-and-a-half-year contract. Mancini said Johnson, who passed a medical yesterday, would be considered for the first team straight away, adding: "We are delighted that Adam has chosen to come here. He is a very good player with fantastic potential and as a club we are always keen to sign British talent."
City were desperate to land Johnson, who had also attracted interest from Chelsea. They had seen two bids turned down by Middlesbrough during the January window, but decided to increase their offer to £6m rising to £7m to ensure he did not slip away.
Johnson is a product of the prolific Boro academy, despite being born in nearby Sunderland. This season he has scored 12 goals in 28 games. He said: "There are a lot of reasons [for the move]. City are a club going places. I wanted to come and try to better myself instead of staying in my comfort zone at Middlesbrough. I want to be the best player I can possibly be and I think that is going to be the case coming to City and playing with world-class players."
Johnson will will wear the No 11 shirt vacated by the club's record £32.5m signing Robinho, who has moved on loan to Brazilian side Santos until the end of the season. Robinho's return to Brazil was greeted by 15,000 fans yesterday when he landed on the pitch in a helicopter. The striker said: "My goal is to stay here a long time. If the president wants to extend my contract for four years, that would be great."
Who's gone where: The Premier League's major window moves
Arsenal: In S Campbell (unattached). Out P Senderos (Everton, loan), J Wilshere (Bolton, loan).
Aston Villa: In None. Out C Gardner (Birmingham, £3m), N Shorey (Fulham, loan).
Birmingham: In Michel (S Gijon, £3m), C Gardner (A Villa, £3m). Out G Espinoza (released), M Bent (QPR, loan), M Taylor (Watford, free), D Johnson (Plymouth, free), G McSheffrey (Leeds, loan).
Blackburn Rovers: In Y Basturk (Stuggart, loan). Out B McCarthy (West Ham, £2.5m), Z Khizanishvili (Reading, loan).
Bolton: In P Robinson (West Bromwich Albion, undisclosed), V Weiss (Manchester City, loan), J Wilshere (Arsenal, loan). Out N Hunt (Derby County, loan).
Burnley: In L Cort (Stoke, £1.5m), N Weaver (unattached), F Nimani (Monaco, loan), D Nugent (Portsmouth, loan). Out J Rodriguez (Barnsley, loan).
Chelsea: In None. Out T Taiwo (Carlisle Utd, undisclosed).
Everton: In L Donovan (LA Galaxy, loan), P Senderos (Arsenal, loan). Out L Neill (Galatasaray, £750,000).
Fulham: In S Okaka (Roma, loan), N Shorey (Aston Villa, loan). Out C Smalling (Man Utd, £10m), D Kamara (Celtic, loan).
Hull City: In A Zaki (Zamalek, loan). Out D Cousin (Larissa, loan), B Hughes (released).
Liverpool In M Rodriguez (A Madrid, free). Out A Voronin (Dynamo Moscow, £1.8m), A Dossena (Napoli, undisclosed).
Manchester City: In A Johnson (Middlesbrough, £7m), P Vieira (Inter, free). Out Jo (Galatasaray, loan), V Weiss (Bolton, loan), Robinho (Santos, loan).
Manchester United: In C Smalling (Fulham, £10m). Out D Welbeck (Preston, loan).
Portsmouth: In Q Owusu-Abeyie (S Moscow, loan), J O'Hara (Tottenham, loan). Out Y Kaboul (Tottenham, £5m), A Begovic (Stoke, £3.25m), D Nugent (Burnley, loan), M Williamson (Newcastle, undisclosed).
Stoke City: In A Begovic (Portsmouth, £3.25). Out L Cort (Burnley £1.5m), A Griffin (Reading, loan), M Tonge (Derby, loan).
Sunderland: In M Kilgallon (Sheff Utd, £2m), A Hutton (Tottenham, loan). Out N Nosworthy (Sheffield Utd, loan), D Healy, D Murphy (both Ipswich, loan).
Tottenham: In Y Kaboul (Portsmouth, £5m), E Gudjohnsen (Monaco, loan). Out K Naughton (Middlesbrough, loan), G dos Santos (Galatasaray, loan), A Hutton (Sunderland, loan), J O'Hara (Portsmouth, loan).
West Ham: In B McCarthy (Blackburn, £2.5m), Mido (Middlesbrough, loan), Ilan (unattached). Out N Quashie (QPR, free).
Wigan Athletic: In V Moses (C Palace, £2.5m), G Caldwell (Celtic, undisclosed), V Stojkovic (S Lisbon, loan), M M Martins (S Donetsk, loan). Out O Kapo (Boulogne, loan).
Wolves: In G Mujangi Bia, A Guedioura (both Charleroi, loan). Out N Collins (Preston, £750,000).
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