James Milner was always confident Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli would stay with Manchester City.

Despite all the speculation surrounding the likes of Balotelli and Tevez, England midfielder Milner fully expected them to remain with City.

He told Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "I'm not surprised, no. They're both top-class players along with many others we are lucky enough to have in the squad.

"As a team you want to move forward and we say that every year we want to improve on what we did last year. That is as individuals and as a team and as a club. We want to move forward and get bigger and better."