Premier League giants Manchester City are all set to hijack rivals Manchester United transfer target as they close in on signing Valencia CF’s Argentine centre-back Nicolas Otamendi.
Sky Sports claim that City will be able to rope in the Argentine only if French defender Eliaquim Mangala agrees to join Valencia on a loan for a year. The deal will be basically an exchange deal where Mangala will join the La Liga side and Manchester City will bring in Otamendi.
Valencia had initially rated Otamendi for €50m which was his buy-out clause. But after the player made it clear that he wants to leave the club, the La Liga side is now considering to sell the player somewhere around £28m.
Nicolas Otamendi is understood to have already agreed personal terms with Manchester City and is refusing to train or play for Valencia in a bid to force through a move to the Etihad Stadium.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini was asked by the media about the transfer of defender to which the Chilean manager replied: “I cannot confirm nothing and I don’t talk about rumours.”
Eliaquim Mangala had joined Manchester City from FC Porto last summer for a huge transfer fee but remained injured for most of the time. He 25 Premier League appearances during his debut campaign with the club and was not all impressive. Manchester City has problems with the backline as they lack a quality defender who can support Vincent Kompany.
Manchester United was initially linked with the defender as the club were in search of star central defender. After Sergio Ramos deal fell through Nicolas Otamendi was the only player left in their radar. But now it seems that City have hijacked the deal successfully and will sign him in the coming days.
Nicolas Otamendi will likely be unveiled in the coming few days at the Etihad Stadium.