City and De Jong may part ways

Nigel de Jong Seemed to be struggling with the pace of a game that wasn't exactly bursting out of the traps. Played in slow motion. 4 (GETTY IMAGES)

Manchester City are prepared to listen to offers for Nigel de Jong this summer, if they cannot reach a new contract deal with him.

De Jong's failure to agree a deal worth more than £100,000 a week had left his future in some doubt, though he has since slipped down the pecking order to the extent that he could not even make the side at Wigan Athletic on Monday. De Jong's hard negotiating position on his contract reflected his own belief that he was one of City's key players but City are certainly in no hurry to return to the table with the Dutchman's agent, Rodger Linse, and their manager, Roberto Mancini, has not been pushing hard to see a new deal secured.

The 27-year-old will not be sold this month, though his career at the Etihad Stadium does now appear to depend on his season beginning to take off. Otherwise, he could be another of the players signed under Mark Hughes' managership to find himself sold to finance a more creative midfielder who is more to Mancini's liking. After only eight Premier League starts this season, De Jong may have gambled and lost by holding out for a more lucrative offer last summer.