Eliaquim Mangala will be allowed to leave Manchester City on a freeManchester City are willing to let £42m defender Eliaquim Mangala leave the club on a free transfer this summer as he will not even be included in Pep Guardiola’s first team squad.
City have made plenty of extravagant signings in the last 10 years, but none have ended up losing them more money than Mangala.
The 28-year-old centre back, who has already been sent out on loan to Valencia and Everton, has not even travelled with the rest of the players for the Premier League Asia Trophy in China as he has been told to find a new employer.
Mangala has been linked with moves to both Portugal and Turkey, but his wage demands have been an issue and City have decided to cut their losses.
The former Standard Liege and Porto defender is entering the final year of his contract, having signed a one-year extension just four months ago.
The Frenchman may now look for a new Premier League club rather than move abroad, but it has been made clear to him that he will not play any first team football for City if he refuses to leave.
Signed by Manuel Pellegrini in 2014, Mangala gradually fell out of favour under Guardiola, with John Stones and Aymeric Laporte signed to replace him.
Even though City have also lost club captain Vincent Kompany since the end of last season, they are not likely to sign another centre back in this transfer window unless they can beat Manchester United to the capture of England international Harry Maguire.
Meanwhile, Guardiola has tried to play down the impact of their two-day delay in arriving in China due to an administration error that prevented their plane from leaving Manchester.
City’s players did a light training session in Shanghai on Tuesday evening and are bound to be feeling the effects of a 16-hour journey to China, as well as the seven-hour time difference ahead of their game against West Ham in Nanjing.
Guardiola, though, insisted he was not annoyed by the delay and will see what sort of condition the players are in on Wednesday before deciding who to play against the Hammers.
“We couldn’t fly for reasons that were out of our control,” said Guardiola. “So instead of training here we trained in Manchester. Nothing changed too much.
“Of course, jet lag for tomorrow’s game it won’t be easy, but it is what it is, and we are going to adapt. We will see how the people sleep tonight and how they feel tomorrow. It isn’t a perfect situation but it’s happened so we are going to adapt and that will make us stronger.
“I hate finding excuses. What you cannot control you cannot control so accept it and move forwards. I don’t like hearing ‘it could be better’; it is what is is. When something is not in our hands we just have to adapt.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/07/16/eliaquim-mangala-will-allowed-leave-manchester-city-free/
