Manchester City are close to completing the £11 million signing of Hamburg defender Jerome Boateng.
The transfer has been mooted from German sources for weeks, but this is the first time anyone from City has confirmed that Boateng will be heading to the Premier League this summer.
Coach Roberto Mancini, who also admitted the club will struggle to attract top names after failing to qualify for the Champions League, is hopeful of sealing a deal for the 21-year-old by the end of the week.
"We are quite close to signing him,'' Mancini told the Manchester Evening News. "Boateng is a good player, a young player and strong.
"He plays for the national team and there is a good chance to get him. He can play three different positions; central defence, right full-back or in midfield. If we find a player like that it is better for us.''
But Mancini will hold out much hope of signing players like Fernando Torres.
Torres has been linked with a number of sides in recent weeks but Liverpool insist the striker will not be sold and, with Carlo Ancelotti ruling Chelsea out of the race for his signature, it is believed City are the only side to be showing serious interest at this stage.
Mancini has already confirmed that City plan to bid for Torres but, having missed out on the Champions League, he acknowledges that most of the world's best players will not be eager to move to Eastlands.
"Can we attract the top, top players, like Torres? I don't know, but I don't think so," he said in the Sun. "If we finished in the top four, it would be better and easier to attract them.
"In this situation it is different. There are probably some players who want to play in the Champions League and not in the Europa League, but there are a lot of players in Europe who will want to play for Manchester City next year.
"We won't be playing in the Champions League but we must try to win the other competitions and finish in the top four in the Premier League."
No comments:
Post a Comment