Manchester City will step up their quest for a striker this week
as they prepare to take their summer spending past £175million.
City spent £60m last week when they confirmed deals for Jerome
Boateng, Yaya Toure and David Silva, and they plan to conclude
another £67m worth of business with Lazio's Aleksandar Kolarov,
Benfica's David Luiz and Aston Villa's James Milner over the next
few days.
Target man: Wolfsburg's £50m asking price may be
too much for Dzeko
As Sportsmail has revealed, they are significant steps in what
will be the biggest spending spree under taken by a British club in
one summer, dwarfing the £120m they spent last year, and the
piece de resistance is yet
to be delivered.
City fear they will miss out on Fernando Torres because of his
preference for playing elsewhere if he leaves Liverpool, but the
club have other strikers in mind.
They have made a play for Wolfsburg's Edin Dzeko and were
alarmed at the German club's £50m demands.
Hair-raising prospect: Brazilian defender Luiz
(centre) in action for Benfica
YAYA TOURE
From Barcelona for £25.5m
DAVID SILVA
From Valencia £24m
JEROME BOATENG
From Hamburg for £10.5m
ROBINHO
Latest interest from Turkish club Besiktas.
CRAIG BELLAMY
Toss up between Everton and Tottenham.
JO
Probably heading back to Galatasaray. NEDUM ONUOHA
Waiting for Everton to strike a deal. STEPHEN IRELAND
Aston Villa and Sunderland in pursuit. SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS
Villa have made an enquiry.
GARETH BARRY
JOLEON LESCOTT
WAYNE BRIDGE
MICAH RICHARDS
Juventus and Bayern Munich have made counter-offers but the
Bosnia international is keen on City and has asked to go. The
problem for Dzeko is that fiercely proud Wolfsburg would have to
back down.
Despite City's spending power, illustrated in their willingness
to give Silva and Toure £160,000 a week in wages, the club do not
want to pay over the odds.
For that reason they have also asked about Mario Balotelli, the
gifted but troubled teenager at Inter Milan, Palermo's Edinson
Cavani, Mirko Vucinic of Roma and Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, also
a Manchester United target.
None is without complication but City never expected their rise
to the top to be easy.
They are undertaking a recruitment drive that will stand them in
good stead for at least the next five years, sourcing talent for
every position and at different tiers from youth level to first
team.
Club officials held talks about their plans on Friday and many
of the City players who return for pre-season training at
Carrington today will, with some justification, be questioning
where they fit in.
A spending programme of such a scale, in today's financial
climate, still needs to be balanced.
Super Mario: Inter Milan striker Balotelli is
gifted but has his critics
As Parma-bound Valeri Bojinov made a sharp exit yesterday, it is
safe to as sume Craig Bellamy, Robinho, Nedum Onouha and Stephen
Ireland will not be far behind.
Certain recent recruits, such as Patrick Vieira, will have to
accept their best role will be on the bench and some players will
have to accept they are at Eastlands to help meet the Premier
League's 'homegrown' quota.
Indeed, on last season's displays, only Joe Hart and Adam
Johnson of the British contingent may be guaranteed a start. They
say it is tough at the top. Manager Roberto Mancini may be about to
show his players just how true that is.