Manchester City close in on Danilo and Benjamin Mendy as summer spree nears £220m James Ducker, in santa clara
21 JULY 2017 • 4:57PM
Manchester City are expected to take their summer spending to almost £220 million in the next 48 hours as they prepare to wrap up deals for full-backs Danilo and Benjamin Mendy in the latest stage of their drastic defensive overhaul.And Pep Guardiola – who remains hot on the heels of Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez – also wants to sign a centre half with Alexandar Kolarov on the verge of a £5.8 million move to Roma after asking to leave City.
Guardiola had planned on Kolarov staying but his impending departure means all four of City’s full-backs last season will have been cleared out in the space of a month in a situation that raises fresh questions about the absence of succession planning by director of football Txiki Begiristain.
Kolarov had been expected to provide cover in central defence as well as left-back but his request to join Roma will force Guardiola back into the market for a centre-back to compete with Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones.
City have already missed out on Italy defender, Leonardo Bonucci, who has left Juventus for AC Milan.
Kolarov follows Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy out of the door, heightening the pressure on City to find a glut of reinforcements in a single summer.
City are confident of completing the £26.8 million signing of Danilo in the next 24 hours, with the Brazil right back expected to leave Real Madrid’s UCLA training base in Los Angeles to make the short journey across the city to join up with City and undergo a medical. City arrived in LA on Friday after a 2-0 defeat by derby rivals Manchester United in Houston. Danilo, for whom Chelsea have also made an offer, will provide cover at left back as well as defensive midfield.
City are also close to finally completing a protracted deal for Mendy for a fee in excess of £50 million after making a fourth offer for the Monaco and France left back following weeks of failed negotiations to drive the price down. City are one of the clubs Monaco are believed to be considering reporting to Fifa over allegations of tapping-up striker Kylian Mbappe, although the world governing body had still to receive a formal complaint from the French champions as of Friday afternoon.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/21/manchester-city-close-danilo-benjamin-mendy-summer-spree-nears/