City rule out Mangala loan as part of Otamendi deal and turn to Pedro over De Bruyne
Manuel Pellegrini is looking to make some late moves in the transfer market
MANCHESTER CITY have been offered Nicolas Otamendi by Valencia but will not be sending Eliaquim Mangala in the other direction.
 
Valencia still owe City the bulk of the £23.8million fee agreed for striker Alvaro Negredo last summer.
Under the terms of the deal, the La Liga club took Negredo on loan for the season with a guarantee to make the deal permanent this summer.
 
But with City still waiting for their money Valencia have offered £35m-rated Argentina defender Otamendi instead.

City however have refused Valencia's request to take Mangala on loan for the season as a replacement for Otamendi so that deal looks unlikely to materialize.
 
Manager Manuel Pellegrini is understood to be happy with France international Mangala's centre-back partnership Vincent Kompany and has Martin Demichelis and promising youngster Jason Denayer as cover.

And City want the Negredo money to help finance their move for Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne and balance the books.

Mangala had problems adjusting to English football following his £42m move from Porto last summer but finished last season strongly and has hit the ground running this season, helping City to keep two clean sheets in their opening two games against West Brom and Chelsea.

Pellegrini has always believed that, given time, Mangala would justify his huge fee and with a season under his belt thinks he will be a key figure for City in their bid to reclaim the Premier League title.
 
City have been tracking playmaker De Bruyne all summer but refuse to match Wolfsburg's £60m valuation of a player they bought form Chelsea for only £18m last year.

Belgium international De Bruyne had a a highly-impressive season, helping Wolfsburg to qualify for the Champions League. The club are backed by car giant Volkswagon so do not need the cash and would prefer to keep De Bruyne to help them make an impact on their return to Europe's top club competition.

City are understood to have had an offer of around £47m rejected and are reluctant to go any higher. They have denied reports they have increased their offer to £50m.

De Bruyne is keen to join City but out of respect to Wolfsburg does not want to hand in a formal transfer request or make trouble designed to force the deal through. He would prefer to leave amicably with the two clubs having agreed a compromise.
 
But that seems unlikely to happen at the moment. And that is why City are maintaining an interest in Pedro's situation at Barcelona.

Neighbours United are favourites to land the unsettled Spain striker but City could still make a late move if their efforts to land De Bruyne remain deadlocked.

Pedro is aware of City's interest and many in Spain believe he might prefer to work for former Villareal and Malaga boss Pellegrini than Louis Van Gaal, who has had a bust-up with his former Barca team-mate Victor Valdes and is now at loggerheads with another Spaniard, the unsettled David De Gea.

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