The transfer saga of the summer was finally poised to end today as Villa midfielder James Milner headed up the M6 to complete his £26million move to Manchester City.

Stephen Ireland is set to move in the opposite direction as part of the deal, which will see Villa receive £18million plus the midfielder, following a dramatic day of negotiations which saw the Irishman finally settle his dispute over a £2million pay-off with City.

Both players will undergo medicals at their prospective new clubs this afternoon, with the transfer hoped to be rubber-stamped by the close of play today.

City boss Roberto Mancini said this afternoon: “We are getting closer. I hope we can close it between today and tomorrow.

“I think Milner is a good player, an English player. He can play a lot of different positions and there aren’t many like him.

“Will the deal include Ireland? I hope so. We have today and tomorrow to close the deal.”

Milner’s departure would mark the end of a three-month pursuit by City to get their man, after their first bid of £20million was rejected by Villa on May 20.

The PFA Young Player of the Year had become increasingly frustrated by City’s failure to tie up the transfer and earlier today it emerged he was 48 hours away from turning his back on a move.

The mega-rich Eastlands club had been caught up in a dispute with makeweight Ireland, who signed a lucrative new five-year deal only last year, for over a week but Milner’s warning appears to have worked and brought matters to a head.

Milner will leave Villa having made his peace with supporters after he was replaced to a standing ovation following Saturday’s 3-0 opening-day victory over West Ham, in which he scored the final goal.

The deal is worth more than double the £12million paid to Newcastle two years ago and would see Milner link up with former Villa captain Gareth Barry, who moved to Eastlands last summer.

Villa set off for Austria tomorrow for their Europa League play-off first leg against Rapid Vienna, but UEFA have confirmed to the Express & Star that Ireland would not be able to feature with the date for player registrations for this round having already passed.