Manchester City are willing
to go to £70 million for Liverpool striker Fernando
Torres.
The Guardian says Torres's future at Anfield remains
shrouded in uncertainty with Christian Purslow, the club's managing
director, holding extensive talks with the 26-year-old striker and
the manager, Roy Hodgson, but conceding he can do no more to
convince the striker to stay.
Chelsea and
Barcelona have been linked with
the former Atlético Madrid captain but may struggle to meet
Liverpool's £70m valuation.
City's hopes of signing Torres were believed to have ended when
they failed to qualify for the Champions League last season but
Mancini, who is also interested in Mario Balotelli of
Internazionale and Wolfsburg's
Edin Dzeko, insists the prospect of Torres making a sensational
switch from Anfield to Eastlands is not over and is willing to
better the £32.5m record fee City spent to sign Robinho from Real
Madrid.