The 25-year-old is the man Mancini wants to fill the left-back spot, which was a problem position for the Blues last term.
Aleksandar Kolarov has struggled to make the role his own since arriving from Lazio for £16m last summer.
And although Everton’s Leighton Baines has also been linked with a move to Eastlands, Clichy has emerged as the top choice for the job.
The French full-back is Arsenal’s longest-serving player, having arrived from Cannes in 2003.
But sources in North London suggest that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is resigned to letting him go, and sees England youngster Kieran Gibbs as his long-term left-back.
Clichy, who has also attracted interest from Liverpool and Paris Saint Germain, has a year left on his contract at The Emirates.
Mancini has made it a priority to strengthen the Blues’ back line.
In addition to Clichy, the Blues are looking at Partizan Belgrade's £6m-rated centre-back Stefan Savic.
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After struggling for so long to fill the left back spot, his signing could be a bargain compared to the money spent in the past. He has bags of experience both in the premier league and the champions league.
Will improve the quality of the squad and has loads of experience.
Think Sami Nasri will be next.What an addition he would be to the team.
Good bit of business. As for Savic he'd be good cover but not in the same league as Vertonghen whom I think we should be actively pursuing.
He'll do
i saw clichy plat on many occasions
he looks more of an attacking left back then kolorov
but his defending is not better then his
And Nasri too, please
hmm undecided ont his.. more interested int he nasri news!
Its hard not to have sympathy with the Arsenal fans when they have a pop at City,if, as reported, we land Clichy and Nasri, but they need to get real, if these transfers go through Arsenal will have had £60 million pounds plus off us alone over the last couple of years. If Wenger chooses not to reinvest in the team or break his wage structure that is his decision. Maybe at the end of next season when the Gunners parade around North London in their open top bus holding up a fantastic balance sheet for the seventh consecutive season maybe, just maybe, the penny will finally drop that you have to speculate to accumillate.
LOL We get mega stars like Jones, Young and the Gay and you get Cliche and we are about to sign Nasri too. We are massive. We are ManU! We are better than everyone even you!
Good signing, left back is a definite weakness for us, this guy has had 7/8 years of champions league experience and that is what we need right now!
Love the main headline on the dark side, seems like all the rags are bricking themselves that liddle ole ciddy are going to get Nasri, and the muen just needs to give them some false reassurance that sir fungus is going to beat City in a bidding war!!!.. Awe bless!
Cue all the usual inane "City for money", "rags for trophies" remarks when we get him, like the players they have signed over the years just play for nowt!
Good news as Kolarov was exposed far too often in his defensive duties - getting back !
Keep Nedum if we need cover in the CB position - He is good enough and a true Blue - Come on Bobbi give the lad a second change and save your money for a marquee signing - CTID
Whenever ive seen Clichy play ive also thought he is a class act, great skill and pace etc. However ive never taken note of his defending. Mind you defending is done as a team and the lad has something invaluable - true pace.........
Clichy at 7 million or Baines at 20, absolute no brainer - Clichy all day long..........
if nasri go to city not for winning trophies but for the sake of money.und till die j.mifsud.siggiewi.malta.
Clichy £7m,City spending in the 'bargain basement' ? isn't that what you claim United do ?, just saying
Good signing he will be i am sure he can defend better than Kolorov now can we get rid of the dead wood the likes of Adebayor,Santa Cruz,Barry and others
I would be pleased to see Clichy join us
I agree with others that he is not the perfect defensive left back, but I cant remember the last time we did have a left back who was a natural defender with good pace, natural positional instincts, good judgement and a consistently accurate tackle. Maybe Glyn Pardoe or Willie Donachie.
I could accept Kolarov's defensive weaknesses if his attacking prowess had lived up to promise, but so often his final ball has been rubbish and his free kicks and corners, with a couple of notable exceptions, a total waste
Glichy, if he can reproduce his Arsenal form, will at least provide great attacking options and with all the strength we will have as an attacking force all round, hopefully our defence will be redundant anyway
By the way, I haven't forgotten Andy Hinchcliffe whose corners were fantastic, but the defensively he was often exposed
Lets go for Clichy
good signing this if it's true!
Think we have already given Arenal too much money and not got good value for it.
Clichy was the best left back in the Premiership 2 seasons ago but lost his way due to the average defenders he was playing with at Arsenal and also was made to look bad due to the lack of midfield cover in front of him.
IMO he will be an excellent signing as his best years are in front of him and he is a much better full back than Kolarov who has to go down as a bad signing due to the size of the fee we paid for him. He's too slow, can't tackle and looks like he's carrying a few pounds too many.
For £7m this would be a bargain signing to provide some much needed cover at left-back, bring it on.
Quality supplement to the squad. If we sell Bridge, we have no natural backup solutions for LB except improvisations with Lescott, Zaba (and Boateng?) or even Barry. However, I still hope that Kolarov's best is yet to come.
Hope you get him.
Well I am sure you will get him as big clubs not interested, will be ideal alongside Milner, and Barry,
Great signing for you second rate, just like your team and support.
Anything is an improvement on the awful Kolarov.
Never been impressed with Clichy, seems to get out of position far too much, but if Bobbie can get him defending better then he could be a great signing, very capable going forward and decent crosser!