SOCCER:MANCHESTER CITY have told Shay Given they will allow him to leave only if they find a replacement first, with fellow Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Keiren Westwood among the options that manager Roberto Mancini is looking at.

The club are sympathetic to Given’s position now that he has lost his place to Joe Hart but do not want to leave themselves short as they compete with Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table.

Uppermost in Mancini’s thoughts is the situation at the end of last season, when Given and Stuart Taylor were injured and, with Hart on loan at Birmingham City, an emergency loan had to be arranged for Marton Fulop of Sunderland.

Given’s desire is to go out on loan and Mancini confirmed the club are looking at potential replacements, with Coventry City’s Westwood, a former City reserve and now Given’s understudy at international level, a strong contender.

“We can’t take the same risk as last season,” Mancini said. “We have seen two or three (possible options) but Shay doesn’t decide this situation. I have talked about this with Shay and he told me that if we have a chance to take another goalkeeper (he would like to go) . . . but finding a goalkeeper like Shay?”

The inference is clear, namely that City are reluctant to lose a player of Given’s calibre in case the England goalkeeper is injured during the second half of a season in which Mancini’s club still have aspirations of winning a first league title since 1968.

They will go top if they beat Wolves at Eastlands today, when Edin Dzeko will make his debut following his €32m move from Wolfsburg. “I’m excited because we’ve bought a good player, one of the top strikers in Europe,” Mancini said. “I’m looking forward to seeing Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez and Dzeko together but at the moment it’s impossible (Balotelli is injured). When Mario returns in one month they can play together and we know now we have a player in Dzeko who can score with his head every time.”