Boardroom changes at Hamburg allowed Manchester City to step in and swoop for midfielder Nigel de Jong.

Though De Jong has still to accept the chance to move to Eastlands as City's new anchor man, Hamburg believe it will be a formality, their spokesman Joern Wolf saying: "The two clubs have reached agreement. Now it is simply a case of the player agreeing with City."

Out of contract at Hamburg at the end of next season, De Jong had verbally accepted new terms worth three million euros a year from the Bundesliga club.

Crucially, though, it cannot be rubber-stamped until a new board is elected next Sunday, leaving City free to move in and top Hamburg's offer for a player they signed from Ajax three years ago.