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Deadline Day Round Up

City have signed Middlesbrough Adam Johnson on a four and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee but missed out on Kenyan midfielder McDonald Mariga.

At the start of the day it looked like Mariga would be heading for Eastlands after Parma accepted their bid of around £7m. Meanwhile on Teeside, Middlesbrough had initially rejected City’s improved offer for their highly rated winger.

But the situation changed during the day as Mariga was denied a UK work permit. The Kenyan had played 75% of Kenya’s games in the last two years, meeting part of the criteria set by the home office. But his application was refused as Kenya are ranked 98th in the FIFA rankings, outside the top 70 countries.

City sent a delegation to Wembley to appeal the decision but they were unable to convince the board to overturn their decision. Later in the day, Mariga signed a four and a half year contract with Italian giants Inter Milan.

But the blues did get one of their signings in the form of Boro winger Johnson. The fee is undisclosed but is rumoured to be between £6-7m, with more being paid on appearances.

Johnson has scored 13 goals in 96 appearances for Boro since making his debut for the club in 2005. He also figured against City in last month’s FA Cup tie before going off injured.

Johnson’s signing could signal the end of his City career for Martin Petrov, who was rumoured to be joining Everton on loan until the end of the season but manager Roberto Mancini may retain his services as Johnson will be unavailable for City’s FA Cup games, should they progress past Stoke in the fifth round.

City were also rumoured in the Spanish press to have agreed a fee with Real Madrid for midfielder Fernando Gaga. However, the blues had to wait for authorisation from ADUG before the transfer could go ahead and by the time they had received the go-ahead, the deadline had passed and City missed out.

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