The Blues have been quoted a “hands-off” fee of £100m to sign the Spain striker, as Liverpool’s new manager Roy Hodgson proves he won’t give up his prime asset without a fight.
But City have also received firm indications that Torres wants Champions League football next season and, despite being tempted by City’s record-breaking wage offer, favours Chelsea.
Now City can only hope that Liverpool’s owners decide they want to cash in on the player - regardless of Hodgson’s wishes - that Chelsea refuse to match them in the bidding, and that Torres has a change of heart.
If those three things do not happen, City will switch to Plan B, and renew interest in Wolfsburg hitman Edin Dzeko, Inter Milan’s rising star Mario Balotelli or take advantage of Barcelona's financial plight and go for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Mancini identified Torres as the man he wanted to boost his striking department towards the end of last season, but City soon got the message that the former Atletico Madrid man was intent on playing with the European elite next season.
But rumours emanating from the Spanish camp indicated that Torres had given City glowing references when asked by teammate David Silva, helping the Valencia man to make up his mind to move to Eastlands in a £25m deal.
That re-ignited City’s interest, but Chelsea have also muscled in, and the player is believed to prefer a move to Carlo Ancelotti’s Premier League champions.
Now it seems City face competition from Juventus for Bosnian striker Dzeko, who was top scorer in the Bundesliga last season and has scored 56 goals in 94 games for the German club.
City backed off when Wolfsburg quoted them a price of £50m for the 6 ft 3ins target man, and will only return to the deal if the price drops considerably.
But Juve have confirmed their interest and are set to offer £25m, plus £16m-rated Momo Sissoko, for the striker.
What do you think? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Never mind,thats his loss.
Wolfsburg quoted them a price of £50m for the 6 ft 3ins target man, and will only return to the deal if the price drops considerably.
But Juve have confirmed their interest and are set to offer £25m, plus £16m-rated Momo Sissoko, for the striker
Lets offer same + Robinho then
AFTER WATCHING TORRES IN THE WORLD CUP I DONT THINK CITY
SHOULD BID FOR HIM,I DONT THINK ANYONE WILL. PETER BEACHILL.
GOOD! He's an absolute CROCK!!!
He warmed up for half an hour at the world cup final then we all saw him pull the hamstring the first time he had a sprint! No thanks, we have enough demics at the club!
I hope City dont get Torres. Over valued, injury prone and failed to perfom when it mattered.
I am surprised United dont put a bid in for him because as with Sneijder they have absolutely no chance of getting him but can then claim they are going for a big name player where as all they will end up with in the big name stakes is probably someone like christopher bart-williams (unless anyone can come up with a bigger name)
why are we bothering with this bloke. he's had one good season. and then has been injury prone since. stop wasting time chasing him. i'd rather offer utd 70 million for rooney. or look abroad there are forwards just as good as torres.
City have got a brief (2 year max) window before the new financial restrictions come in. We need to get the players in before we have our wings clipped. We should just get on with it, so the side can be settled before the season starts.
The main counter-arguement to this is that Utd and others are waiting until we have stopped spending to try and pick up any bargains. Ideally we should not give them an unopposed run on their acquisitions. If we have excess players a loan similar to Harts is the way to go.
I would forget Torres. We all saw him pull up injured again in the Final last night. For the fee he would cost he looks to be a bad risk. I read today that City are baulking at a fee of £34M for Dzeko, which is still a lot less than Torres would cost. Anyone know what his injury record is like? After Santa Cruz, I think despite the sheik`s money, the club should avoid expensive players who are hardly ever fit to show something for their inflated wages.
Torres while theres no doubt he is a class act it still remains a fact that he is injury prone as proven yet again in lastnights drab world cup game. stay away city we have already been bitten with injury prone players mentioning no names santa
Stay away from that one City, a crock who doesnt really want to play for us.
And lining one of our rivals pockets in the process, NO !
Forget the others. Sign Dzeko. Simple as that.
There's a good chance that I'll be playing as much Champions League football as Torres this season with his injury record.
I would leave well alone City. Let Chelsea fork our millions for this spectator
The way Torres went down again at the end of the game last night suggests he will be set for a spell on the sidelines. In fact its nothing but the norm for the player over the last 18 frustrating months, unable to stay fit.
Now while he is not exactly in the "Crock" standards as far as his fitness goes, this chase however is starting to mirror that of Hughes' pursuit of Crock last season.
Torres is a top striker when fit, one of the best in the world but that is a big if at this stage and one we cannot and should not waste any more time. There are plenty of high quality targets that can be substituted for him (and who want to come to us, like Dzeko) and what we need now is the get business done quickly (i.e. players in and out) and getting a full pre-season with all the new players before the campiagn starts.
Having watched Torres body language thru this world cup and with his record of injuries i was starting to have concerns about our attempts to sign him. Then to see him come on after 1hour of warming up and to immediatly pull out when going for it.
Maybe a rival clubs bid/gamble like Chelsea's could turn out to be everyone elses gain.
No player has ever scored the winning goal whilst lying on the treatment table.
Thank the good lord. We don't want this injury prone waste of space. Another Owen Hargreaves. Stay well away!"
Stay away from this one City, a crock who doesnt really want to play for us.
And also lining one of our rivals pockets in the process. NO !
In Manu fans fashion " Didn't want the crock anyway"
Type your comment here...Forget Torres as he is injured again.Time to go all out for Dzeko
Typical Torres. Came on for Spain last night and got injured within minutes. We don't need another injury prone forward, particularly at the price Liverpool are asking. We Should pay Wolfsburg the 35 million they want for Dzeko and then concentrate on preparing the team for the start of the new season.
Good, he is a crock.
Personally, I think Adebayor will have a good season with Silva able to deliver the "killer pass". Therefore, signing a striker is not really a priority. I would say a new left back is what we need most.
Go for Dzeko,
Torres pulled up injured yet again in the world cup final last night. He has not got over the injurries from last season, do not want another Santa Cruz on our hands.
Offer Wolfsburg 30 million plus Stanta Cruz and lets move on to the start of the season.
I admire Torres as a player...tremendous player when on song, but he clearly isnt fit (didnt he pull his hamstring last night too). Walk away from Torres and go for Dzeko. Use Santa Cruz, Jo et al as a makeweight if possible.
Dzeko for me. This sort of interest from top clubs is not for nothing. It is a gamble, he is not proven in the PL, but i would prefer him to Ibrahimovic any day and Torres injury record make his more of a gamble. Boletti is NOT a player we want!! Too much maintenance!
Lets offer £25m and RSC..... Surely that is a better deal for Wolfsburg.
GLAD TO HEAR IT TORRES IS TO INJURY PRONE AND NOT IN FORM DZEKO IS NOT WORTH 50 MILLION BUT WOULD BE WORTH PAYING OVER THE ODDS A PROVEN STRIKER WHO COULD HANDLE THE PREMIERSHIP
A "hands off" suits me! The man is made of balsa wood!!!