Shaun Wright-Phillips will be confirmed as Chelsea's newest recruit within 48 hours after the Premiership champions agreed to pay Manchester City £21 million for the England international.
A dramatic long weekend, which started with City manager Stuart Pearce insisting the 23-year-old wanted to stay at Eastlands, will end with Wright-Phillips agreeing personal terms, then passing a medical before heading across the Atlantic on Chelsea's pre-season tour of the United States.
In contrast, the City squad headed out to Thailand for the FA Premier League Asia Trophy last night still shell-shocked by the loss of their talisman. As recently as Friday night, when he signed autographs after what proved to be his final outing in a City shirt at Tranmere, club officials were convinced Wright-Phillips wanted to stay, a major factor behind their rejection of the £20 million bid from Chelsea which had arrived hours earlier.
That bullishness evaporated within 90 minutes on a sunny afternoon at Macclesfield yesterday, when Wright-Phillips pulled out of the Moss Rose friendly with a stomach bug - leaving the visitors' team sheet with a blank space alongside the number seven shirt he had been allocated - before telephoning chairman John Wardle as he was being driven home to inform him of his desire to speak to Chelsea.
Wardle, still on his summer holiday, was devastated by the news, but recognised the inevitability of the situation. Although Wright-Phillips was initially refused permission to speak with Chelsea, it was only to allow City chief executive Alistair Mackintosh to broker the best possible deal.
Mackintosh managed to prise an extra £1 million out of Roman Abramovich's wallet, although it is not known whether he has managed to retain the £17 million up front payment which formed part of the first offer.
Although Wright-Phillips has won just four caps, he is almost certain to be a member of Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad next summer.
It is thought Pearce will be given half the fee to spend on new recruits, with Robbie Keane, Freddie Kanoute, Peter Crouch and Andy Johnson among those being linked to a squad whose only recognised senior striker - Robbie Fowler - missed the flight to Bangkok with a back complaint.
Meanwhile, Ashley Cole's future at Arsenal is not guaranteed beyond this season even though the left-back will sign an improved three-year contract at Highbury today. The deal extends Cole's contract by one year to 2008, but Arsenal are aware that the England international still feels he was poorly treated at points last season. The 24-year-old will reassess his situation at the end of this campaign.
The new contract, which will more than double Cole's current salary of £27,000 a week, has been agreed just six weeks after the defender described his relationship with a section of the Arsenal board as beyond repair and said he felt there was no way back for him at the club where he began his career.
Two weeks of delicate talks have culminated in this agreement. It is notable, though, that Cole is signing only a one-year extension, three days after Jose Antonio Reyes was tied down to a deal until 2011 and Gael Clichy until 2010.
Cole fell out last season with Arsenal - or more specifically with the club's vice-chairman David Dein - over contract negotiations and at being put through a Premier League inquiry after it emerged that he held secret talks with Chelsea.
Cole has said he would not join another Premiership club but could be a target for Real Madrid next summer to replace Roberto Carlos, who will be 33. This extension will enable Arsenal to get a better price for Cole in a year if there is a parting of ways.
Owen Hargreaves has shunned a move to Middlesbrough, whose manager Steve McClaren knows the Bayern Munich midfielder from his role as England assistant.
Hargreaves was offered a salary the equal to one he earns at Bayern and a guaranteed starting role during this World Cup season, something he has been unable to command at the Bundesliga club. "There has been an offer, but Owen refused," his agent Roman Gill told a German newspaper.
Graeme Souness departed the baking plain of rural Slovakia a satisfied man yesterday after Newcastle beat ATS Dubnica 3-1 in their first leg game of the Intertoto Cup in the ZTS Stadium.
