City to honour youth plan with bid for Palace’s Moses

Manchester City are seeking to make good their pledge to buy in elite youth players by moving for Crystal Palace’s 19-year-old striking prodigy Victor Moses.

Palace manager Neil Warnock indicated yesterday that he believes Moses will be heading out of Selhurst Park unless the current financial difficulties are resolved and City’s football administrator Brian Marwood will press ahead with the club’s move for a player Palace are seeking £5m for.

Palace are understood to have received a £1.5m bid from West Bromwich Albion and there are doubts as to whether other prospective suitors will match the valuation. But City, who feel that their current academy crop does not equip them to make the leap to Champions League football, have the spending power that others seeking Moses’ signature lack.

Mancini has dismissed suggestions that he might be about to move for the Argentine defender Christian Ansaldi, suggesting that Wayne Bridge meets his requirements for the left-back spot. Ansaldi, who plays for the Russian side Rubin Kazan was reportedly to move for £4m. “No, in that position we have Bridge,” Mancini said. “In seven days he will have recovered.” Bridge has been missing from the Manchester City side since early December, with a knee injury