Man City in advanced talks over £50.4m deal for former Chelsea midfielder

Kevin De Bruyne is expected to complete his move to Manchester City next week

MANCHESTER CITY are expected to complete a deal for long-term target Kevin De Bruyne early next week.

 

City and Wolfsburg are understood to be in advanced talks and close to an agreement on a £50.4m fee for the former Chelsea attacking midfielder.

It will end one of the longest-running transfer sagas of the summer and take City's spending in the current window close to £150m following the purchases of Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Otamendi, Patrick Roberts and Fabian Delph.

De Bruyne, 23, trained with Wolfsburg yesterday and has been included in their squad for today's Bundesliga clash with Cologne but it is likely to be his farewell appearance.

 

His agent Patrick De Koster said: "We're trying to find a solution between the clubs."

Wolfsburg's sporting director Klaus Allos hinted a deal is in the offing when he said they were negotiating to find "a decision that will be best for everyone involved".

City refused to comment but manager Manuel Pelegrini refused to rule out another imminent arrival.

When asked about De Bruyne he said: "The window closes on September 1. Before that, nobody knows what will happen. When things are finished, then I can talk about them."

 

Pellegrini denied Otamendi had been signed from Valencia simply to safeguard the £24m the Spanish club still owe City for striker Alvaro Negredo. He says he wanted the Argentina international to keep centre-back pair Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim Mangala on their toes.

And City sources insist the £28m they have agreed to pay in instalments for Otamendi is entirely separate from the Negredo money, which Valencia will continue to pay in instalments.

Otamendi will have to wait for his debut because Pellegrini admits neither Kompany or Mangala deserve to be dropped after their impressive performances in the 3-0 wins over West Brom and Chelsea.

"At this moment, with the way we are playing, it is impossible to move Kompany and Mangala from their positions," he said. "We did not concede a goal in our first two games so we will continue playing with the same players.

 

"But we needed a centre-back. We analysed different options and we decided that Otamendi was the best option. Now we have four centre-backs and with the number of games we will play this season it is important to have four.

"When you have good players you have possibilities. Players always give their best performances when they have important competition inside the squad."

Young centre-back Jason Denayer, who spent last season with Celtic, will now be loaned out again for the season, with Marseille and several Premier League showing interest.

Right-back Pablo Zabaleta has been ruled for a month with a knee ligament injury as City head to Everton tomorrow looking for a club record-equalling ninth successive League win.