Clichy completed his medical earlier today and spent this afternoon meeting with club officials to seal his move north from Arsenal. Although Arsene Wenger was keen to keep his fellow Frenchman, with Clichy about to enter the final year of his contract, having indicated he was not willing to agree an extension, Arsenal had little option but to cash in.
Clichy has signed a four-year contract and becomes the latest in a succession of former Arsenal players to join the City revolution, although as that number includes Emmanuel Adebayor and the currently suspended Kolo Toure, the Blues have not had unqualified success with their raids on London.
Attention will immediately turn to whether he will be swiftly followed north by Samir Nasri, who has been attracting interest from both Manchester clubs. Mancini appears to be favourite to flex his powerful financial muscle, yet the City boss has been forced to accept bringing new players to the club is not going to be as easy as he wished due to UEFA's new Financial Fair Play rules, which have now taken effect.
Although that in itself will not curtail the Blues' spending power, there is a problem with the number of highly-paid players on their books that Mancini has no obvious use for. Wayne Bridge for instance spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham and, once Clichy arrives, will be shunted even further down the pecking order. Craig Bellamy is another, whilst Shay Given and Shaun Wright-Phillips have been attracting attention from Aston Villa and Bolton respectively, even though both clubs may be reluctant to match their present terms.
Jo and Felipe Caicedo do not have a role to play either, whilst Nedum Onuoha is waiting to discover whether he impressed enough on loan at Sunderland last year to attract attention from elsewhere. Adebayor has already declared an intention to remain at City until the last day of the transfer window in August if necessary as he tries to secure a 'dream' move to Real Madrid.
