Manchester City will make a £20 million bid for Benfica’s talented left-back Fabio Coentrao when the January transfer window re-opens for business.
The versatile Portuguese international can also play on the left of midfield, a position he originally vacated to take up defensive duties for club and country.
City have been monitoring Coentrao for several months but are acutely aware they face growing competition from European rivals notable in Spain and Italy.
Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho is known to be an admirer while arch rivals Barcelona made an unsuccessful attempt to land the 22-year-old in the summer.
In Italy Milan giants AC and Inter have weighed up bids for the youngster along with Roma and German giants Bayern Munich.
Least of City’s worries are Liverpool who made an enquiry for Coentrao but where frightened off by the protracted transfer fee Benfica were demanding.
City’s enormous wealth is more than likely to put them in an enormous position of strength over their rivals with some reports in Portugal already suggesting they have agreed a deal with Benfica and Coentrao’s move to Eastlands is a formality by the turn of the year.
His arrival will signal the end of Wayne Bridge’s career at City.
Prior to speculation surrounding Coentrao’s arrival Bridge had already been expected to be off-loaded in January.
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Roberto Mancini has been told that his job is NOT under threat at Manchester City.
Pressure was mounting on the City boss after fans jeered his team following two sterile goalless home draws against rivals Manchester United and lowly Birmingham.
And Sunday Mirror Sport last week revealed claims by former Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink that he was sounded out about replacing Mancini at Eastlands last summer.
But now we can confirm that when chief executive Garry Cook, football administration officer Brian Marwood and financial chief Graham Wallace flew to Abu Dhabi last week for talks with club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Mancini’s future was not on the agenda.
Owner Sheikh Mansour did not even attend talks that were focused totally on commercial issues and agreeing a budget for transfers in the New Year.
Mancini was granted permission to return to Italy to attend to personal matters but has been briefed by Cook and Marwood that money will be made available for reinforcements – although he will have to first generate cash himself by selling unsettled players.
A City insider said: “It says everything about Roberto’s position that his future was never on the agenda and was not mentioned once during talks.
“The meeting was arranged so that commercial issues and matters involving property and the continuing development plan for east Manchester could be discussed.
“There were also talks about a transfer budget for January – something that Roberto himself has since been made fully aware of. If his position was under threat you can be sure Sheikh Mansour himself would have been involved.”
City have made Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko their No 1 target – and have already received encouraging messages from the Bosnian’s advisers who were unhappy that he was priced out of a summer switch to Eastlands when he was valued at £45million.
Wolfsburg will have to readjust their asking price for a deal to be agreed and the transfer also hinges on Mancini finding a buyer for unsettled players like Emmanuel Adebayor, Wayne Bridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Roque Santa Cruz, Joleon Lescott and Shay Given.
City are also ready to make a move for Dani Alves – another failed target last summer – after the Brazilian full-back’s contract talks with Barcelona broke down.
Mancini takes on the man he controversially replaced last summer when City travel to face Mark Hughes’ today.
The City boss insists he did nothing wrong by accepting an offer to replace the Welshman before Hughes had been sacked. And he even believes that City could win the title this season.
Mancini said: “In Italy, in Spain, if you think clubs don’t talk to managers when they already have a manager in charge, you live on the moon.
“If the club was talking to other managers now, that is not my problem. My problem is beating Fulham.
“I have not met Hughes since I’ve been here and it changes nothing. Whether we have a drink together after the game depends on him, but we don’t have a problem.”
He added: “I think we can play to win the title this year. “The season is very long and if we can recover our best players in a short time we have a chance. We are in a good position.”
“If we play for the title, maybe we can arrive in second or third place but if we play for fourth, the risk is that we’ll arrive in fifth like last year.
“But I don’t feel pressure. Once you have worked at Inter Milan you can work anywhere.
“I had the same problems in my first year there but in my second year we started to win. Once you start to win, everything changes.”
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ესეიგი კუკი და სხვები წასულან შეიხებთან მანჩინის საკითხის გადასაწყვეტად და შეიხებს უთქვიათ რომ მანჩინიზე აპირებენ დაყრდნობას და ზამთრისთვის ბლომად ფულს გამოუყოფენ
მანჩIნის კიდევ უნდა ძეკოს,კოენტრაოს და ალვეშის გადმოყვანა
გასაყიდად-ფილიფსი,ჟო,ბრიჯი,ლესკოტი.ადებაიორი,გივენი
კოენტრაო და ალვეში რომ დაათრევიათ
პს ფულით გაკეთებული გუნდი
This post has been edited by DATO1993 on 21 Nov 2010, 15:57 ა, ეგია სიმონ, მეტი კი არაფერი.. (C) ფრანც კაფკა
Cette entreprise est remplie à ras bord avec des enculés irréalistes (C) შარლ მორის ტალეირანი
სამაიმუნოდ გვაქვს საქმე ?! (C) ჰერბერტ სპენსერი
ნწ ნწ, რა თაობა მოდის ?! W.B. იეიტსი
დააკელი აგური - არ მოგხვდება ამხან'აგური (C) ვალტერ გროპიუსი
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Manchester City FC, Feel The Power Of The Dollar [vol.8]
